Soaring Comets
by Mariel Nightstalker
Summary: Harry completes his purpose in the Wizarding World, but is denied the oblivion of death, instead thrust into an unfamiliar world with strange people and mysterious dangers. CROSSOVER SLASH Zack Fair/Harry Potter
1. Chapter 1

A/N: In the deep recesses of my mind, an idea has been festering and fermenting for practically the entire past year. And then it exploded, forcing me to start typing it out. Normally I despise crossovers since they are very difficult to make believable or entertaining in a more sophisticated manner, but my Muse would not be appeased until I tried it. The result is this pile of slimy drivel you're currently peering at. Cheers!

Disclaimer: Tetsuya Nomura owns Final Fantasy and J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I am making no profit from this.

Soaring Comets

CHAPTER 1

Ginny was laughing at him, he knew, and so resolutely refused to look at her sitting on the aisle across from his, no matter how pretty she no doubt looked in the soft purple dress Fleur had picked for her. Hermione was sitting next to her talking in low tones to Viktor Krum, who had turned up at the last minute just when they believed he wouldn't be coming to the wedding at all. The old chemistry between the two brunettes seemed to be rekindled, and Ron was tense at his side.

The long skirts of his disguise were heavy and entirely too thick for a summer wedding, but Mrs. Weasley had insisted that the old aunt he was Polyjuiced as had a notorious tendency towards getting chills (which was actually the whole reason she couldn't attend), and wearing something thinner would bring down immediate suspicion upon him.

So he was resigned to sweating like a pig in mid-August, wedged between his smirking best friend Ron and some perverted old man, a great-uncle presumably, who was getting a little too friendly.

A wrinkled hand snuck onto his thigh for the fifth time and he smacked it away without bothering to glare at him. Freddy, as he had introduced himself, ought to know by now that he wasn't open to advances, but he was rather persistent. The music started up, and a quick glance showed him that Hermione and Ginny had disappeared to get into the procession that should start coming down the aisle right about…now.

The flower girl was dressed in a mass of blue frills that made his eyes water, and moving somewhat clumsily down the middle of the aisle, carelessly tossing rose petals from side to side. Most of the landed on guests rather than the carpet, but the cooing females didn't seem to notice. Fiddling with his too-tight lacy gloves, Harry silently tapped his foot. This was his first wedding, and he decided that he didn't much like them.

Fleur looked lovely, and she and Bill practically glowed as they said their vows. The kiss made Mrs. Weasley burst into tears, and Mr. Weasley put his arm around her comfortingly. It was all very…awkward.

He smacked Freddy's hand when it began rubbing high on his thigh. The man had to be over 200 years old, and he was still acting like this!

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"It is disgraceful!" Viktor hissed again, expression furious. Luna's father continued swaying absently to the music, his pendant, which was apparently Grindelwald's version of the Dark Mark, swinging with his movements.

Harry had never given much thought to the Dark Lord Dumbledore was responsible for killing, but now he was finding his interest piqued. Asking Viktor to elaborate, however, launched the older man into a long diatribe that included his own grandmother's victimization and the deaths of quite a few older cousins that he had never met consequently.

By the time he finished explaining the horrors of the Dark Lord who had preceded Voldemort, they were already putting away the decorations and the remaining guests were a small pack of drunken young people laughing loudly and making crude jokes. The bride and her bridegroom were safely at their Honeymoon destination, and Harry began to feel quite peaceful. The sky was a perfect shade of purple, with pinpricks of stars breaking through its inky depths and the crescent moon shone down upon the stacks of clean dishes. He smiled softly at Viktor, swept up in the majesty of the evening, and the Bulgarian's breath caught.

Three minutes later Harry found himself crushed against the other Seeker's chest when he had innocently entered the pantry to put some dishes away. Their mouths had also somehow become connected, and he was first too disoriented to pull away, and then he started to enjoy himself too much to even bother.

"Should we be doing this in here?" He whispered when they pulled apart, resting his hands on his chest nervously.

"No one will look for us here, but if this isn't comfortable for you we can continue in the woods or by the pond." Viktor bent his head and kissed the side of Harry's neck gently, running a hand through his hair to help him relax.

"The woods sound nice. Do you know any bug-repelling charms?"

"Yeah…" He flicked his wand and Harry smiled shakily. He was resolutely refusing to think about Ginny and their kind-of-not-really relationship. He'd been frustrated for weeks, and Viktor probably just wanted release of some kind or maybe just the company.

Opening the door to the pantry slowly to see if anybody was waiting around, Harry found the house to be shockingly empty and eerily silent.

"Um…"

"What is it?"

"Everyone seems to be gone. Maybe they went to bed?" He whispered back, opening the door all the way and moving silently through the dark kitchen with Viktor close behind him, his fingers sometimes brushing against his lower back. It felt nice and made him shiver a little bit, but he wasn't adverse to the sensation.

However, he felt strangely tense and on edge. Looking sharply around when he heard a floorboard creak, he opened the door with one hand while flicking his wand into his other. Just as they were about to exit the house, a shadowy person in a black cloak and a Death Eater's mask came darting out of the shadows and yelled, _"Stupefy!"_

He dodged, and it splintered into the door. Mrs. Weasley wouldn't be happy about that since she'd just bought it. He'd have to remember to pay for it later.

Stunning the Death Eater a few minutes later when Viktor distracted him, he disarmed him and searched the house for more of the black-cloaked minions of the Dark Lord. He found four, and grew increasingly worried as to the whereabouts of the Weasley Family and Hermione. Why didn't they hear the fighting?

Viktor was starting to get tired when they ran into a second passel of Death Eaters outside, and Harry could sympathize. The training Mad-Eye Moody had been giving him hadn't prepared him for taking on large numbers of wizards with only one person to assist him, not that Viktor's fighting skills were in any way inferior.

They heard something move around upstairs, exchanged a look, and Viktor jerked his head for Harry to go investigate while he held off the Death Eaters still swarming from in the door and out of the chimney. Their sheer numbers made Harry want to throw up. Didn't they understand that the man they served was a maniac, a half-regurgitated reject of the afterlife, not quite immortal, not entirely mortal either?

He avoided the steps that would betray his presence, noticing with trepidation that the door to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's bedroom was open and the room had been ransacked. When had this happened? He and Viktor couldn't have been in the cupboard for _that _long, even though they had been the only sober people working since everyone else had gone home or was sleeping. It was the bathroom on the third floor that gave him pause, and a thick taste of bile in his throat. He gasped when he realized what he was seeing.

There was something red on the floor, and his breath stopped almost altogether. Ginny was sprawled on her front, her hair a red banner matching almost perfectly the pool of glimmering liquid surrounding her like a halo. She was dressed in the pajamas Hermione had given her for Christmas, and the shirt was half-burned to reveal a deep hole almost completely through her body, obviously made with some kind of blasting-skewering spell combination. Unable to take the sight of her blood any longer, he bent and vomited, the acidic liquid leaving his mouth urging him to empty his stomach completely.

"Harry, what has happened?" Viktor's voice broke across his hearing range, and he choked, the reality that Ginny would never smile at him or tease him about being a 'geek' ever again, never have children, never grow old and have sagging breasts hitting him full blast. He sobbed, but managed to recover himself.

Maybe some people were still alive, on the upper levels, and in need of medical attention.

"Oh." Viktor gagged when he saw the mess that had once been the Weasley's only daughter, hurrying to catch up with Harry. He had a strong feeling that Harry shouldn't be alone right now.

The next floor revealed Ron's body twisted at an odd angle beside Mr. Weasley's, both obviously taken by surprise. Harry resolutely continued on, his surroundings started to blur as he drifted into shock. The girl he thought he would end up marrying one way or another was dead, his best friend was dead, and they were under attack!

The entire house suddenly shook on his foundations, and Viktor smelled smoke.

"Harry, I smell fire!"

He didn't answer; too busy staring in utter relief at Hermione's sleeping body. He chose to ignore why she was in Charlie's room.

"Hermione!"

She sat straight up when he repeated her name, shaking her shoulder.

"What's going on?"

"We're being attacked, and-"

"The house is on fire!" Viktor cut in, handing Hermione a sweater and her wand.

"Thanks, Viktor. And Harry, if the house is on fire, why are you still in here? Let's get everyone else out-"

"Everyone else is dead."

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The lower levels were filled with smoke, and Harry jiggled the handle of the door, trying to get out. The metal of the knob was hot and burned his skin slightly, but he was too interested in why no unlocking charms would open the door. Suddenly a laughing face with two bright red eyes set in reptilian skin and a wide slit of a mouth filled with sharp-looking teeth filled the window of the door.

He jumped back, startled, and then growled. Voldemort continued to laugh, the high-pitched sound sending electric shocks up and down his spine. He shuddered, raising his wand and uttering a smashing charm that broke the window. Some of the fragments hit the Dark Lord, and he squealed in pain. Using it as leverage, he beat the door down and tackled the man who had both directly and indirectly killed so many people he cared about. They hit the burning grass hard, and rolled a little ways, throwing punches rather than spells.

And so it was that the most powerful Dark Lord recorded was beaten to death with a rock in the hands of a distraught sixteen-year-old.

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The funeral services were quiet, sobs punctuating the chaplain's eulogies from the congregation. Harry was unable to cry, though, and merely wrapped an arm around Hermione absently, not noticing her soaking his shoulder. He felt numb, like he was about to wake up and find out that it had all been a sick joke of some kind.

He had known that this was a serious war and that people would die, but he had never thought that it would be people he knew and cared about. Other people always seemed to be the types to lose loved ones, not him. It had happened so damned fast, too. In the blink of an eye, Hermione was all he had left. Even Remus' little son Teddy had been murdered in his mother's cold arms, his hair a faded green.

When the service ended, he filed slowly past the rows of gleaming coffins, feeling only the faint draft in the cavernous chapel, unused since the Middle Ages but now the only building large enough to house a mass funeral.

His collar was too tight.

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"So you'll be staying with Viktor?"

"Yeah. He is being really sweet about the whole thing, and since his team is traveling to Australia, where my parents are, it all fits together."

"I hope you have a lot of fun. Don't forget to write me, okay?" He hugged her tight, smiling when they pulled apart. She dithered a moment longer until he started sniggering at her nervousness, making her play-growl and activate her Portkey. She vanished with a 'pop', and his smile faded to the blank expression he wore most often these days. He was living in Sirius' old house, on his own despite being underage. He wouldn't be left alone for very long, he knew, since the Ministry was obsessed with him living the last year of being a minor under the roof of some well-meaning foster family, preferably Muggle.

Slowly walking towards the steps, feeling a little hungry and in the mood for a sandwich, he was suddenly hit with a dizzy spell. He wobbled, hand seeking the wall for support. He missed, and stumbled, his own pant-legs tripping him. He was dangerously close to the stairs now, his head hanging over the edge of letting the blood flow to his head.

He lay there for a few minutes, fighting the black hovering at the edges of his vision but losing the battle by a long shot.

When he came to, he was sprawled up to his mid-back over the precipice of the stairs, and his head felt like it weighed fifty tons.

"Ugh." His groan echoed in the empty 'Noble House of Black', and the portrait of Sirius' mother began chuckling darkly at him.

"Shut up!" He mumbled, straining his muscles and managing to slither away from the stairs. Standing shakily, holding onto the banister, he stumbled and moaned with the throbbing in his head. Maybe that hadn't been such a good idea and-

He toppled down the stairs, vision splitting in half, one side showing endless snow and high walls arching around him and the other the yellowed wallpaper and buthered House Elf heads in rows along the shelves. His eyes slipped closed, and his body slumped at the foot of the stairs, neck and spine twisted into impossible angles.

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'_Boy Who Lived Found Dead!_

_Yesterday, when Ministry representative for Child Services Marjorie Pliff paid a visit to the home of Harry Potter to give him the good news that a foster family had been found for him, she discovered the young hero with a broken neck and spine at the foot of his stairs. According to investigating Aurors, he must have lost his grip on the banister and consequently had a rather nasty tumble._

_Funeral services are being planned, and plans made to dedicate a day of silence to him annually for his bravery.'_

Hermione shakily set the Daily Prophet down, not being able to bear the small picture of Harry spread out on a morgue examining table, lifeless and with those ugly bruises all over his neck from where he'd twisted it.

Viktor comfortingly wrapped an arm around her, seeming more moved by the fallen hero's death than she had expected. They were the last remnants of the battle, now, and had become pretty close because of it. There were still a lot of things about him, personal things, that she didn't know.

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"He's gone!"

"What?" Hermione sat up on the sofa, putting her marker in her notations for her book on rare spell combinations that she'd been writing for the past two months.

"This morning, just as they were going to embalm his body, they found it missing!" Viktor was out of breath with excitement and shoved the new copy of the paper into her hands impatiently when she blinked at him.

Scanning the article, she found that his body was indeed missing. All that had been left was his spectacles.

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End chapter one

I know this is new, but things get interesting, I swear! Also, the HPverse will be referenced very little in the next chapter, since the focus is on FF7. Comments and suggestions welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Cold saturated every pore on his body, freezing his blood and turning his weary bones brittle. This was the sensation that Harry awoke to, and his lashes were so frosted with snow that he didn't notice at first how good his eyesight was even though his glasses were no where to be found.

Twitching suddenly when he realized that the Most Noble House of Black didn't have a tendency to be filled with snow, he sat up, squeaking when all he could see in every direction he turned his head was white snow unbroken by footprints or houses. He was alone, utterly alone, in some kind of nightmarish winter.

Maybe he was dreaming or delirious from that oh-so-painful fall he'd taken down the stairs. And speaking of that, he distinctly remembered his spine and neck being in excruciating pain, which he wasn't feeling right now. He had probably gone numb with cold, he reasoned, reaching up and feeling his bare neck carefully. Shooting pain greeted his questing fingertips, and when he raised them to his eyes he saw that they had gotten a nice coating of blood.

"Well, if I just sit here and wait to wake up, my dream-self will freeze…maybe I should wander about?" He mumbled to himself, unconsciously rubbing his bloodied hand on the snow beside him to clean it. The snow was very cold, with a firm layer of tightly packed ice and snow beneath the lighter freshly-fallen flakes, meaning that nobody had walked here for a very long time.

Oh, this was _not _good.

Getting to his feet was somehow a hell of a lot harder to do than he remembered, and his head felt weird…like somebody had replaced the liquid that cradled his brain with concrete and pebbles. Pointy pebbles.

Stumbling and slipping on the slick snow, Harry slowly moved in the direction of one of the high walls of snow creating the bowl or crater he'd landed in. every muscle in his body was already strained from his fall, and he knew from the warm sliding sensation going down his back that he was losing a lot of blood, no matter how tightly he pressed a scrap of his shirt to the wound.

Getting to the top of the rim, he gripped the tiny bits of rock peeking out from the blanket of snow, the sharp stones cutting into his numb fingers harshly as he pulled his body sluggishly over the edge. He lost his footing on the rocks and tumbled all the way down the slopes, by some miracle avoiding smacking his head on any of the jutting boulders.

His momentum began to wane as the slope leveled out, and then he was coming to a stop, face-down in the icy chill of snow.

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He was warm, and the soft thing he was lying on was practically swallowing him. Opening his eyes blearily, he looked around and deduced that he was inside a wood box. The ceiling was wooden beams supporting thinner wood planks, the floor was wood tiles with some rugs made from rags woven together as if by some old person determined not to waste anything, and the walls were dark wood stained from smoke from the fire and presumably whoever decided to have a cigarette within its confines.

Getting a little _too _warm, he painstakingly began removing the many layers of coverlets covering, realizing when he had a thin cotton sheet over him that he was naked. He blushed and retrieved one of the thinner blankets to layer with the sheet, which he was unconvinced as capable of preserving his modesty. Realizing that his throat was completely parched and his stomach emptier than it had ever been at the Dursleys, he looked around and found a pitcher of water on the floor next to the bed with a rag next to it. Straining his muscles, which felt stiff and unreliable, he carefully lifted the pitcher and drank deeply from it. He paused to gasp for breath and rest his arm before lifting it again and emptying it entirely.

Someone opened the door, and a wizened old man entered slowly carrying a tray laden with bottles containing brown liquids of varying thicknesses that resembled herb-based Potions. There was also a bowl of water and some rags, and a little of the water sloshed over the edge of the bowl and onto the man's shirt. He grumbled quietly, set the tray down on the small table beside the bed Harry was ensconced in, and stood by the fire dabbing at it.

"Um-"

"Whoa!" The man jumped about a foot, snapping his head around like a whip and the practically scrambling to his side. "You're awake!"

"Yep."

"And lucid! No more weird comments about unicorns and magic wands, eh?" He grinned and poked Harry's shoulder.

"Uh, I guess not? Can I ask a question sir?"

"Sure, sure. Ask me anything you want, and then I've got some questions for _you, _young man!"

He had almost too much energy than Harry thought a man his age had the right to have, but he wasn't going to start off their new acquaintanceship with rude personal questions. "Where are we?"

"You are in Icicle Inn, the number one place for anyone to spend the night who has decided to take a gander at the big Crater a few miles off. More broadly, you are on the Northern Continent."

"Oh." He had always done horribly on Geometry in both Muggle school and Hogwarts, but he could still name his continents and was damned sure that there wasn't one called 'Northern', nor had he ever heard of some kind of tourist spot know as the Crater.

"Indeed. Now I have some questions for you."

He nodded to show he was ready for them, folding his hands in his lap awkwardly.

"How did you not die out there with a gushing head wound and full-body frost bite?"

"I had frost bite?" So that was what had been wrong with his hands. It is kind of hard to climb out of a crater with shaking limbs that seem to take forever to do what he told them to do.

"Yes, quite a bad case of it. My serving girl Letta found you when she was getting some more firewood, and thought you were dead because of all the blood. Much to all of our surprise, you were fully alive and merely unconscious. We were pretty sure you wouldn't make it through your fever, though it would seem you did."

"I had a fever?"

"Yes you did, and we didn't really know what to do with you. Have you got any family we could call to come fetch you?"

He sobered. He was obviously very far from home, and Hermione was not going to be happy with him, so he supposed it would be better if she just didn't find out about this. "No I don't have anybody."

"No friends, co-workers, acquaintances?"

He shook his head glumly, the memories of when he did have people filling his mind and taking him off of his dazed cloud of goodwill. He sighed forlornly, rubbing his thumb along the handle of the pitcher he still held in his lap; it was smooth in his hands, and probably well-loved.

The old man watched the stranger with wide eyes. There had been much speculation amongst his staff about who he was and where he'd come from, and now to learn that he had no connections whatsoever was kind of unnerving.

"I just realized we haven't been introduced properly. I'm Gustavo and this hotel has been in my family for 6 generations. We couldn't find any identification on you, so I'm going to have to ask you to tell me who you are." He grinned, yellowed teeth glinting in the firelight and winter sunshine coming from the one small window high on the wall to Harry's left.

"I'm Harry Potter, and I really appreciate all you've done for me, Gustavo. I probably would have died out there if it hadn't been for you." He smiled at him, setting the pitcher back on the floor and raising his knees so they were bent and creating a 'table' for him to fiddle with his hands on.

"It was no trouble at all!" He smiled back, but then seemed to become a little uneasy. "I don't mean to pry or nothing, but would you mind telling me how exactly you came to be out there?"

"I…don't know."

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Gustavo had left a few minutes after that, and they had decided between themselves that Harry must have been attacked, kidnapped, and dropped off at the Crater to die once Harry revealed that that was where he had awakened. Apparently some kind of ultra-powerful Electric Company known as Shin-Ra dumped their dirty laundry there sometimes. Harry was the first to have survived it, though, that they knew of.

Right now he was having a shower, and doing his best to keep it quick since they had limited hot water and taking all of it would be very rude after all they'd done with him. He hoped that Gustavo would let him work for him doing odd jobs or just generally helping since he couldn't in good conscience accept his hospitality without repaying him.

Shutting off the water, he squeezed the excess water from his hair and grabbed his towel to dry off swiftly. There were drafts everywhere, and he didn't want another chill that might bring his fever back. From what he'd seen of Icicle Inn so far, it was very picturesque and nestled in a fold of the wrinkled earth surrounding the Crater, which would probably be quite an eyesore if seen from the sky.

Thinking about the sky made him desperately wish for his broom or a very big window so he could see the sky stretching on and on likes a giant blue banner of freedom. He coughed to cover a half-sob, tugging the thick woolen jersey Lette had given him over his head.

The Inn was generally pretty quiet, with occasional shrieks of delight from the children of the guests playing outside in the snow or banging pots in the kitchen if you were in the lobby. And it was this very sound that greeted his ears as he descended the last flight of stairs, having left his towel hung up in his room as instructed.

Following the sounds, he came to a half-open door through which he could see two young women, both big-boned and hearty-looking, chattering happily to each other as one chopped vegetables industriously and the other rinsed meat.

"Um?" He knocked on the door frame, and the one with the vegetables looked up with a smile, her eyes going wide when she saw who it was.

"Well bless me! You _are _awake! Come in, honey, and have a seat. I'll get you some food in a moment." Her smile was contagious, and her energy almost unbelievable as she bustled to the other side of the kitchen he had hesitantly entered. The second girl smiled and waved a blood-stained hand at him.

"Have a seat on the bench by the heater over there. I'm Hannah and the one fetching you food is my sister Jane." She slapped the meat hard and seemingly at random against the wooden counter, picking it up and holding it under the faucet afterwards. In a confiding tone she continued, "We were all so worried that that awful fever you had would kill you."

"Oh, I'm sorry I was such a bother-"

"Not at all!" She grinned slyly. "It's not like you're ugly, anyway."

He colored. What was that supposed to mean?!

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It had been about 5 weeks, over a month, since he had awakened, and he was now resigned to being on a strange continent with strange people who had no idea that magic existed outside of something called 'Materia', which were apparently glowing marble-type things that contained spells only accessible if you prayed to it.

After much negotiations that Harry was beginning to believe Gustavo had been making up for the sake of irritating, which seemed to be a new hobby of the old man's, Harry was now a member of his staff and in charge of assisting their handyman and doing anything that wouldn't get done if he hadn't been hanging around.

Raising the axe, he brought it down on the log and cracked the wood smoothly. He had barely made it through his first few days of chores, nothing the Dursleys had put him through growing up preparing him for the utter muscle strain of all-day manual labor. At least when he went to bed he was so exhausted that he fell asleep very quickly and no longer dreamt of the magical world in either nightmare form or strange disjointed images that featured Luna prominently. He didn't know why he thought of his eccentric friend so much, but even now he sometimes thought of her when he was working on something mindless that didn't need constant concentration to avoid cutting his own fingers off.

Pausing to pick a large splinter that had punctured all the way through his gloves to pierce his skin, he swallowed when he realized that there was nobody to tend the many graves he had religiously kept clean and provided with fresh flowers.

"Harry!" Lette called from the door, waving at him to come over. Gathering the wood he had finished splitting, he stacked it and then carried it to the shelter erected against the side of the Inn to protect it from the snow, he picked some out to take inside with him.

Lette held the door for him, smiling as he eased past her. "Gustavo wants you to help him sort out the boilers. He's in the basement and wants you to bring some rags with you. Apparently he made a mess." She giggled, handing him a bundle of scrap cloth.

Setting down the wood, he accepted the rags and headed for the basement.

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"Harry, it's been three months."

"I know, sir." Harry screwed the last bolt down of the new stove, turning his attention to the other man after he put away his tools in their box. Gustavo had refused to let him work for free after two months of steady and helpful labor, even though he was still convinced that he hadn't repaid him enough for all the emotional horror he'd put him through for nearly a week, which was how long he'd been unconscious or delirious.

Gustavo took a deep breath. "You know I am very fond of you Harry, and you work just as hard as everyone else on my staff, but I don't want to keep you holed up here in this icy place. You're a young man with your whole life ahead of you, and I want you to at least take a short trip and see what you want to do with yourself. After that, if you still want to work here, then I will accept you back with open arms. But if you find somewhere where you can flourish, then just send me a postcard."

Harry stared at him, gaping. "I…you want me to…to leave?"

"Don't look at me so!" He patted Harry's shoulder. "I feel almost guilty keeping an able-bodied young man under my roof when he could make something of himself. I am asking you to find what you want from life. My reasons for this are a bit personal, actually, because when I was a young man all the future I had was this Inn, in the middle of nowhere, and I have spent my whole life running it. I could have been a lot of things, but I never took the chance. I am giving you the chance, and you should take it."

What he was saying made perfect sense to Harry, and he had been feeling a little antsy lately anyway, so why not?

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The boat was nauseatingly unsteady in the waves, and he gripped his stomach from his bunk, fighting motion sickness off with a bat. None of his broom stunts, which twisted his insides into far more interesting patterns and shapes, had ever given him this much trouble, so he was going to just classify it as unfamiliarity. Waves had an entirely different motion system from air waves, anyway.

He was headed to Junon, to examine their military cadet system, which was looking more interesting the more he read about it. The desire for battle, to move his body in a series of defensive and offensive motions, had been welling up inside him for so long that it had collected enough force to practically mind-control him into at least applying for a spot in the ranks of soon-to-be soldiers in training.

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End chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Note: I have no idea how the money system works in final fantasy, so I'll just use random numbers, okay?

CHAPTER 3

"What's your name?"

"Potter, Harry."

The stuffy-looking man, far too overweight for battle and bursting out of his uniform like a sausage out of its skin, sneered and wrote it down. "Can I see some identification?"

"The flier said it wasn't required." That was the final detail that had cemented his decision to enter the army in the first place, and now he needed frickin' ID-

"That's fine." He sighed in relief. "But we do need your birth date, general health history, and 500 gil for your first uniform." He was handed a stack of paper almost as tall as his arm was long, and directed to a seating area where he could fill them out.

The pen ran out of ink half-way through, and he had to ask for another one, nearly getting hit in the head as the employee threw it at him viciously.

After half an hour of furious scribbling and head scratching over the list of Materia-related injuries with check boxes next to them, he stood and handed the forms to the new officer who had replaced the other when his shift ended. What the hell was a 'berserk-ed Chocobo' anyway?

"Alright, I just need the cash for your uniform and then you can go into that room over there so they can find your size." This one was very tall and skinny, with a wide grin that reminded him painfully of the Weasley, long dead now. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he nodded gratefully and entered the room labeled 'Sizing and Outfitting' in thin black letters under the red Shin-Ra logo.

A stingy woman, nothing at all like the child-friendly Madam Malkin of his childhood memories of seamstresses, snapped her fingers at him to get his attention and then wordlessly gestured for him to stand against the wall before swiftly measuring him. He was too bewildered by her speed to be too embarrassed when she measured his in-seam.

"You go wait over there." She had a strange accent, and her eyes contained some kind of green-ish glow that made him feel vaguely threatened. He wordlessly obeyed, opening a history book he'd bought at a re-sale store and turning to his marked page. This world was too strange for him to not do at least some background research, and he was kind of curious to see how a small electric company had somehow come to rule an entire Planet.

Two chairs to his left was another hopeful, looking to be about 14, with a mess of wild blonde locks of hair that made even Harry's hair seem tame in comparison. As if sensing that he was being watched, he turned his head and met Harry's eyes. They were blue…very blue, almost unnaturally so.

"Hello." Harry smiled, the expression feeling unnatural since he wasn't used to it anymore. "Are you here for the cadet program?"

He nodded. "Is there another function of this facility?"

"Oh, well, heh, I guess not." Harry laughed lightly, feeling kind of sheepish. Before he could curse himself too much, however, the blonde spoke up.

"I'm Cloud, by the way. Who're you?"

"I'm Harry. Cloud is an interesting name. Does it mean anything?" Maybe the kid's parents had been hippies or something.

"Um…those fluffy white things in the sky?"

Harry nodded mock-seriously. "It is a great honor to be named after such a natural phenomenon-"

"Oh, shut up. I'll bet _your _name is even more embarrassing." He seemed like the sort to be more quiet and serious, but he was smiling a little now, scooting down to sit next to Harry.

"I'm Harry Potter."

"I was right!"

"Hey! What do you mean you were right? Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'Tom, Dick, and Harry'? my name isn't rare or weird-"

"I think I should be the judge of that." His smile was full-blown now, and he snickered when Harry poked his shoulder. "Was that supposed to be some kind of vengeance ritual?"

"Yes. It's the most painful known to man, didn't you know." Harry puffed up his chest and made a flamboyant arm movement. Cloud shook his head, laughing softly.

"You're kind of weird, you know. What made you decide to join SOLDIER?"

Harry sighed. "I…you first."

"No fair. Anyways, I wanted to prove to my hometown that I can be a hero too, no matter what they think." He blushed. "Its kind of a stupid reason."

Harry shook his head, letting his admiration show. "That is a very good reason to do something, Cloud. Its certainly better than my reason, which consists pretty much of I have nowhere else to go."

"You don't have any family or friends?"

Harry shook his head. "I met some people down near the Crater-" Cloud's eyes went as wide as saucers, "But there is a very limited progression field there, so I traveled around a little until I found something that I thought might work. I can only hope I'll do okay in the army."

"But…you never knew your parents or anything?"

"My parents were murdered when I was barely a year old. I remember seeing my mother die, strangely enough, but I never really knew them. I was then sent to live with my mother's sister, but she always hated my mother and took her resentment out on me. There is no love lost between us, I assure you. And as for my friends outside of those at Icicle Inn, death separates us all, no matter how unlikely it may seem."

"Oh. That's horrible."

"Yeah."

Cloud looked depressed now, and Harry's smile was gone, replaced by pensive staring at the flecks of puke-yellow in the floor tiles.

"Strife?" one of the seamstresses was standing there with a lump of forest green fabric, not unlike Muggle camouflage, and when Cloud stood she tossed it to him. "The changing rooms are down the hall to the right, third door and marked accordingly. Potter, you may join him as well." He accepted his own uniform, the belt buckle unexpectedly snagging on his wrist and opening a cut under his long sleeve that he'd gotten earlier in the day when a automobile had clipped his side.

"Thanks."

She nodded curtly, turning to assist another young man who came awkwardly into the room.

"So your last name is Strife?" He casually asked while tugging of his shirt, the changing room apparently consisting of a wide space with benches scattered throughout it, one of which Harry was seated on.

Cloud nodded. "Yeah. It's my mom's maiden name, though, since my dad's last name is Gaiman, and Cloud Gaiman is kinda…uh…"

"Your dad's last name is gay man?" Harry burst out, pausing in pulling on the green t-shirt.

Cloud turned so red his neck looked white next to his cheeks, and hissed, "Don't be so loud!"

Harry just laughed, enjoying his lighthearted mood while it lasted.

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"Cadets will be divided into groups of 10, and there will be 5 groups of 10 in each barrack. Each barrack shall be given their own Sergeant, although you will attend classes with various other cadets from different barracks. We expect you to follow all the rules without exception, and anyone caught violating them will be punished according to the degree of your offense. If your offense is serious enough, you will be expelled from our ranks and possibly tried in a court of law." Sergeant Nancy's voice was a little quieter than Harry would have liked, and he could tell that he wasn't the only one straining his ears trying to hear him.

"You can now form two orderly lines behind these two tables, it doesn't matter which, and an officer will give you a sheet with the information you will need in regards to your barracks placement, training times, and class schedules. Thank you and good luck. I hope to see those of you who make it through the program in Midgar in three months among the ranks." With a serene smile that seemed out of place on a soldier's face, Sergeant Nancy turned and left the auditorium in which the cadets were gathered.

Following Cloud to the line on the right, they were quickly sandwiched between two separate groups of muscle-bound men in their twenties who talked raucously among themselves. They exchanged eye rolls, Cloud smirking a little.

"So this is what we're going to be fighting alongside with?"

"It looks to be that way." Someone else, with a 'low' drawl cut in, and Harry turned to see a gangly teenager with short brilliantly red hair leering at him. "Hello there, gorgeous. I hope we get bunked together-"

The memories of the Weasleys, when they were alive and well and the only family he truly knew swelled up and his throat tightened. Stomping down on the rising wave of emotion, he did his best to transform it to anger.

"Piss off." Harry snarled, cutting him off, guiding Cloud alongside him forward as the line moved. When they had gotten their papers sorted out and signed the waiver saying that they would hold themselves accountable for their own deaths and injuries and were safely moving down the halls of the temporary preliminary training center trying to locate their bunker, Cloud asked softly, "Why did you go off on him like that?"

"Personal reasons. And I'm not attracted to redheads." Just look at what had happened the last time he had dated one, also known as Ginny. He still didn't know how she could be such a nice person but the girlfriend from hell at the same time.

"Oh, that's okay. I can dye my hair." The drawl was back, and the redhead attached to it. He smirked at Harry, and then poked his chest playfully. "Come on, loosen up! We're in the same bunker, right? Number 18, and it's on the north side, not the south." With a laugh he led the way down the concrete halls, swinging a lanyard with his name tag on it between two fingers.

"Okay, if you're so smart, what are you doing here?" Cloud asked sarcastically, gesturing to the meat-heads packing the halls trying to find their rooms.

The redhead laughed. "SOLDIER isn't the only thing this program trains you for. I'm Reno, by the way." They arrived at a thick wood door with dents and scratches on it almost obscuring the red painted number '18'.

"Lovely." Harry brushed past him and entered their bunker. It was a small room for ten men, with a high ceiling. The effect was ruined by the three bunk beds, each having three mattresses or layers, and the one against the far wall had a pull-out bed underneath it. They choose the one closest to the door, Cloud picking the top bunk before Harry or Reno could. Harry took the bottom with a sigh, and Reno the middle. Opening his small bag of possessions, he removed his history book from before and made himself as comfortable as he was able on the thin bit of padding provided as a mattress.

He was not left in peace, however. Reno's face popped down from his bunk, and he cheerfully asked, "What are you reading?"

"A history book."

"Ah, so you're the scholarly type? Like a sexy librarian-"

Harry kicked the bottom of Reno's bunk. "Shut up, you bastard. If you're really trying to get in my pants, you are going the wrong way about it entirely."

"Would you mind putting aside that fascinating book of yours and telling me what I should do to get a date?" He batted his eyelashes, laughing when Harry batted at his face.

"You're a bit too forward, to start with. And you really would have to dye your hair, and I don't think anyone should have to change the way they look just for a casual bit of romance."

"That's very noble of you." Reno climbed down and into Harry's bunk with him, barely fitting alongside him on the thin bed. "But I think you just might be worth it." He winked, and then tried to snatch his book when Harry turned his back on him to concentrate on it.

He had never given much thought to his sexuality. He hadn't needed to- he would love who he loved, no matter where they were from, what they looked like, or even their gender. He wasn't religious, never had been, and he didn't think his friends (who were now dead, thank you very much) would judge him on who he happened to end up dating.

"So both of you guys are gay?" Cloud suddenly asked, keeping his voice down since three of their room mates had located the room and were getting settled in around them.

"Uh, duh!" Reno snickered, wrapping a arm around Harry in an exaggerated motion. Harry shrugged his arm off without looking at him, saying, "I don't like labels."

"Oh. Okay." Cloud smiled shyly. "I came here for General Sephiroth."

"Pfft, didn't we all?" Reno tried to replace his arm around Harry but was unsuccessful so far.

The brunette spoke up, feeling a little out of the loop. "Who is Sephiroth?"

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End chapter 3

My spell check tried to tell me that 'sephiroth' is actually 'spirit'. Who the hell wrote that program?! Anyways, I hope you guys like it.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Several cries of outrage followed his innocent question, and he stared at the other cadets he was sharing with in utter confusion. "What did I say?"

"Dude, have you been living under a rock or something?" The one who asked sounded like he was from an island or beach-heavy area, and was so tan he was orange. It wasn't pretty. "General Sephiroth is the most incredible fighter alive, and if it weren't for him, those damned Wutains would still be kicking and trying to mess up our lives with their freaky ninjas and Summons."

"Uh…" maybe asking what a Wutain was would be a bad idea. "Well, I was up at the Crater for most of my life, so does a frozen wasteland count as a rock?"

They all made an 'oh' sound of realization. "So, like, you don't have any news up there?"

"Not really. It usually takes about 10 years for really important news to reach us. If the world was scheduled to blow up, we wouldn't know about it until we were blown to kingdom come." He reached into his front pocket and pulled out his packet of cigarettes that he was deciding to sample, signaling to the growing crowd that he was done talking. They dispersed obediently, although Reno remained at his side, an arm around his stomach. Harry decided to just let him be for now, since it generally wasn't a good idea to make enemies with people you shared sleep space with.

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The first morning of training was hell, and it had all gone downhill from breakfast in the mess hall. Reno had noticed him not eating breakfast and asked noisy questions about whether he was one of those 'freaky anorexics', which had gotten the attention of the sergeants. Breakfast was subsequently spent with Sergeant Thomson breathing down his neck and making sure he ate three times more than he could conceivably fit in his stomach. Then their first exercise was running laps for as long as they could to gauge their stamina, and the bouncing movement nauseated him to the point of vomiting in some bushes and hoping nobody noticed. Cloud did, but he kept a look-out for the Sergeant watching their group instead of reporting him. He decided that he liked Cloud very much.

Most of the others were too busy trying to show off and kiss up to the authority figures, and the fact that Cloud was more worried about him then getting on their good sides was very nice to think about.

"Are you okay?" The blonde asked softly, glancing worriedly over his shoulder. They'd run about 4 laps by now, and a lot of the cadets were flagging, and some had taken brief breaks to stretch at various points in the track, which was a circular concrete path surrounding sections in the center apparently used for outdoor sparring or obstacle courses.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for waiting for me." He smiled faintly, and Cloud shrugged it off, although he smiled back shyly.

"Do you want some water?"

"Thanks, yes." He took the offered bottle, downing half of it quickly and then handing it back. "Let's get back out there and kick their butts!"

Cloud laughed and followed him back onto the track, and ten laps later Harry was almost thankful to his cousin Dudley for teaching him how to run for very long periods of time at a young age. He was among the four remaining cadets still on the track, and two of them were already breaking down.

He and the other cadet, a lean man in his twenties with short brown hair, made it to nearly 32 laps before deciding to stop for their own health's sake, and it was five minutes until the half an hour break allotted for lunch.

"You must have done a lot of running up in the Crater, huh?" Reno glued himself to his side at the lunch table, stealing one of his apples. He was keeping an eye out for any meddling Sergeants who might not like him eating only an orange and salad for lunch, so he didn't make a scene even as his inner three-year-old told him to punch the redhead and take back his apple (_"Mine!") _.

"Nah, I just did a lot of long-distance sprinting as a kid."

"Oh, but technically we're still kids." Reno laughed at his own joke, trailing off when Harry just looked at him blankly, chewing his lettuce slowly. "So, uh, why did you join this program?"

Harry shrugged. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

Reno shook his head, patting his shoulder and standing to deposit his tray. He hadn't eaten much either, although Harry wasn't surprised. Reno was fair competition for a string bean in terms of thinness.

He finished off his salad and wondered how he'd make it through the basic push-ups and sit-ups that awaited him this afternoon. Dinner break wouldn't be until seven, and it was lights out at 10:00.

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The two-week program was more then half over, only two days remaining, and Harry was feeling fairly confident that he would qualify for the larger program. Most of the Sergeants nodded to each other when they saw him (the other ones were the ones that leered and he did his best to forget they existed) with approval, which he was taking as a good sign. He was worried about Cloud, though, since the blonde was barely scraping by. He may have been from a mountain town, but from what he had told him, children were strongly discouraged from going on walks by themselves or even in groups without adult supervision ever since several instances of tragedy and the one memorable event of the mayor's daughter, who was said to know the mountains like the back of her hand, nearly died herself. And since the adults were busy trying to support themselves on the thin and rocky soil covering the mountain rock, they didn't care to let their children wander.

Consequently, Cloud had spent much of his time indoors helping his mother weave cloth and baskets.

Currently it was nine o'clock at night, and Harry was busily writing a paper on basic Materia and its primary uses on the battlefield. He was struggling with it a little since he was used to a much wider range of magic spell work in battle, but they didn't practice the same kind of magic here and he didn't have his wand (although he had a feeling that he wouldn't need a wand to channel magic here- there was so much of it).

Someone knocked on their dorm room, and Harry looked around to see if anybody else was going to get it. Reno was out, possibly seducing one of the older hopefuls, and so was Cloud and everyone else but two others, one of whom was sleeping. The other was on the other side of the room, far away from the door, so Harry stood and opened it.

"Yeah?"

It was Sergeant Nancy.

"Good evening, Potter. You're just the man I want to see." He smiled pleasantly, and Harry smiled back to be polite. It looked frozen to the other man, and he barely held back a flinch. "If you'll come with me, I'll explain what I need from you as we go."

"Is what I'm wearing okay?" He hadn't expected to be out of his rooms for the rest of the night and was subsequently wearing sleep pants and a t-shirt. They didn't match.

"It's fine."

Harry wordlessly closed the door behind him after making sure he had his keycard on him for when he came back.

"Now, you are aware that over the remaining two days of your time at this facility recruits are tested for severe mako intolerance?"

Harry nodded, picking at a hangnail. When had that happened?

"Well, we just realized that we have an uneven amount of recruits this time, caused by a computer glitch, so we had to pick a recruit at random for an evening test. You were the one we picked."

Harry shrugged. "Alright. Oh, and, out of curiosity, what happens if a recruit is intolerant or dies in the process of the testing?"

Sergeant Nancy shifted awkwardly and that was enough of an answer for Harry. They had passed out of the dormitories and crossed the outdoor training centers, their footsteps echoing on the concrete lit only by a few cracked, flickering electric lights (Shin-Ra brand, of course) and the full moon over their heads. Harry thought of Remus, and of the pain he would never have to endure again now that he was in the peaceful land of the afterlife. Or at least he hoped so. People here seemed to believe that the souls of everything that grew or existed were recycled through the Planet and transformed into something else, rather like the Asian reincarnation concepts of Earth.

There was a van not unlike Muggle blood donor ones and a drowsy-looking man was leaning against it wearing a white coat and smoking. Harry always found the sight of doctors smoking ironic.

"Hello, Doyle. This is the recruit."

'Doyle' rolled his eyes and took another drag of his cigarette. "Does recruit have a name?"

"Potter, Harry, sir." Harry saluted as he'd been trained, the feeling still kind of awkward.

Doyle jerked his head at him. "Come with me inside."

Sergeant Nancy made to follow, and Doyle stayed him with a hand to the chest. "Uh-uh. The first examination isn't supposed to be so formal- the recruits tend to freak out with superior officers present. If you want I can get you some coffee from inside, though."

"Have you got any tea?"

"After the fit that sky captain Highwind made when I didn't? I always carry some for emergencies." They grinned at each other, obviously remembering something amusing, and the Harry stepped inside.

It was smaller then he was expecting, but then he was still used to small spaces magically enlarged on the inside. There was a bench along the wall and a metal table beside it with neatly arranged vials of glowing green liquid in cases attached to the wall. All of them were locked with key-code locks and metal padlocks as well. On the table was an unopened box of syringes.

Harry looked away from it, focusing on Doyle wrapping a thick vice of rubber around his upper arm to cut off the blood flow temporarily before hooking him up somehow to a screen that displayed his inner organs in a black and white image. He was forced to look up when Doyle unwrapped the syringes and picked one with a very long needle. The sounds of the mako cabinets opening was jarring, so he turned his focus inwards like he used to as a very small child when the sounds of his uncle slandering his parents or his aunt pampering Dudley, showing him the familial affection he had always craved but never received became too much to bear.

He barely felt the needle at all, and when the rubber vice was removed he felt completely normal and at ease…for a few seconds. And then the tingling sensation of blood returning to a limb that had fallen 'asleep' came, followed quickly by sharp pain in his veins and especially those threading through his temples.

"Are you alright?"

He hissed, and then replied, "It hurts!"

"Yeah, but don't worry- your vitals are fine and you don't look nauseous to me. do you feel nauseous?"

"No, but I do feel like I just survived a night of heavy drinking."

Doyle looked taken aback. "I've never come across that one before; you say your head hurts?"

"Yeah."

"Hm. I'd recommend drinking some water." He unhooked him from the equipment. "You're dismissed."

Sergeant Nancy walked him back to his dormitory, and he barely finished his report before lights-out.

His head still throbbed during training the next day.

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End chapter 4

Finally an update!


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"We passed! We passed!" Reno shouted, taking the excuse to lift Harry with him while he bounced. Harry just sighed and bore it, mock-glaring at Cloud, who was standing beside them snickering. Well, it sounded more like giggling, but the last guy who'd pointed that out got a swift kick to the shin so he wasn't going to draw attention to it.

Partly because he was feeling too tired to be nice and partly to cover his own undignified excitement, he snarked, "I'm surprised they'd let someone at odd as you into the testing rooms in the first place," and laughed when Reno smacked his head, cheeks as bright as his hair. "Can you even build muscles on those thin bones?"

"Hey! I am a very talented warrior!"

"And you have the weirdest war cry I have ever heard."

Reno sniffled, and actually started to look a little hurt, so Harry hurried to amend, "But you know I'm kidding, right? I mean, you can still throw me on my back when we're wrestling if I stop paying attention for a split second and-"

Reno grinned and kissed his cheek. "You need to stop apologizing. I was just messing with you."

Harry rolled his eyes and walked away, Cloud immediately following and leaving Reno standing there. Realizing that the red head was still where he had been before, Harry called over his shoulder, "Get a move on, idiot! All the sausages will be gone by the time we get there if you don't pick up the pace, granny!"

Reno unstuck himself, running a little to catch up. "Wait up!"

After eating, they spent their remaining hour in the facility packing their belongings and saying goodbye to those who hadn't made it, Reno promising phone calls and letters that Harry somehow knew would never get accomplished.

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"Cloud, are you okay?" Harry whispered, gently touching the shaking blonde's arm. They were in the transport vans, and the younger boy was bent double, head between his knees and taking deep breaths. "Cloud?"

He could hear him swallowing, and then he whispered back, "I just get really bad motion sickness. This helps some."

"Oh." He rubbed his friend's back gently, smiling when a blue eye peeked up at him and he heard a soft sigh.

"Thanks. That feels nice."

"If we're lucky, it'll put you to sleep and then you won't have to suffer like this."

"Good point. I'll try to relax more." The tension in his arms as he gripped his knees began to relax, and Harry did his best to work out the knots in his back. Since he had only ever awkwardly rubbed Ginny's shoulders when she'd begged him, he wasn't sure if he was helping or hindering. At least he was improving Cloud's blood circulation.

"Can you get that one spot on my spine?" Cloud shyly whispered. From what he'd noticed, Cloud was very shy about asking for things he wanted and had made a point of creating trust between them so Cloud would feel more comfortable telling him what he did and did not want.

"Sure. Up or down?"

"Up a bit- yes, there." He made a low purring noise, thankfully unheard by the other cadets except Reno, who were sitting too far away to hear the faint noise over the motor. Harry cursed Reno's super-sharp hearing when the redhead leaned over, looking more jealous than playful, and hissed, "Don't have _too _much fun together. They divide us by age in the cadet barracks and you might never see each other again."

Harry glared, wishing that Reno had more tact. Cloud had tensed up completely, and all of his hard work was destroyed just like that.

"Reno, why did you say that?" they had stopped for a bathroom break and then they would be boarding a ship to take them across the sea where they would catch a bus to Midgar. Cloud was still in the bathroom throwing up, and most of the others were eating their rationed lunches since it was just a few minutes to noon.

The door swung open before Reno could answer, and it was Cloud. Harry immediately wrapped an arm around him, softly asking if he wanted to eat something.

"No, I'd better not. I get even sicker on boats than I do in trucks."

"Oh, right." Harry led them to the docks, watching the tiny fish swarm and generally go about their business in clear patches of the muddy water. Cloud sighed softly, burying his face under Harry's shoulder.

"Cloud?"

"I'm going to miss you."

"Hey, we haven't separated yet!" He tried to laugh it off, but the sound was slightly choked despite his best efforts. "I'll miss you too. Maybe...maybe we'll have the same Materia classes?"

"That would be nice." Cloud sighed, and Harry knew he didn't believe him.

They were quiet on the long boat trip, although Harry did wake up in the middle of the night in his cramped bunk with Cloud tugging on his sleeve and gesturing to be let in. Neither noticed Reno's narrowed gray eyes watching jealously from his own bunk.

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Midgar was a massive parasite, Harry decided, eyeing the black mass on the horizon they were approaching. There were a few scattered small towns on the way there, but mostly there were simply dead forests and barren ground not unlike a desert.

Cloud had thankfully fallen asleep on his shoulder, and Reno sat on his other side nervously stretching his hands into complex shapes.

"Harry?"

"Hm?" Harry mumbled, turning to look him in the eye. However, Reno had leaned in to talk and their noses bumped painfully. "Ow…"

"Sorry!" Reno laughed softly, poking Harry's cheek. "Believe or not, that wasn't intentional."

"Miracles _do _happen." Harry teased, poking him back but in the ribs.

Reno captured his hand and held it captive, and whispered into his ear, "I'm not giving it back until you pay me the ransom."

"What's the ransom?" Harry whispered back, thankful that almost all the other cadets were asleep and therefore wouldn't start catcalling or making various other perverted noises. Really, they were still a big bunch of children, even if they were training to become soldiers.

Reno's wicked grin should have warned him, but Harry was feeling rather sleepy himself and didn't notice in time. "A kiss."

Harry opened his mouth, and then shut it. "What the hell?" He finally hissed, blushing scarlet and wondering when the world had gone mad. He wasn't even gay! Or wait…

He guiltily remembered Viktor and what he'd been planning to do with him in the cupboard, how he could never be quite attracted to Ginny, and his general disinterest with the female cleavage. Did this make him gay?

His descent into deep introspection had obviously disturbed Reno slightly, because the redhead hurriedly placated, "Harry, it's not that serious! I was just kidding!"

"Huh?" Harry belatedly realized that Reno was talking to him. "What did you say?"

"Uh…"

Deciding that he might as well get it over with, he leaned forward and gently kissed Reno's cheek while he was still trying to figure out what happened, taking his hand back in the process.

"Hey! That doesn't count. That was just a little peck, and it wasn't even on the mouth!"

Harry leaned back. "I was supposed to kiss you on the mouth?"

"Er, never mind." Reno looked away, fidgeting uncomfortably.

Raising his eyebrows, Harry looked away from him and down at Cloud, jumping when he saw the blonde watching him with something akin to betrayal. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't tell me." Cloud's eyes watered, and he looked down, away from Harry. Now he was really confused.

"Tell you what?"

"About you two being…you know."

"What about us?" he was really confused now, the only thing clear in his mind that Cloud was upset. They had been getting along so well, too.

Instead of answering, Cloud asked another question, and so softly that Harry had to lean down to hear him. "Do you love him?"

Where was this coming from?

"Cloud, I don't know what kind of strange dream you had, but I'm not in love with anyone. Hell, I'm not even interested in anybody right now, much less dating. Did somebody say something to you? 'Cause if they did, kindly point them out and I will set the record straight."

"Oh." Cloud murmured, turning a little pink. "Nobody said anything to me, I just woke up and saw you kiss Reno-"

Reno broke in indignantly. "That wasn't even a real kiss! He kissed my cheek like a girl!"

Harry cracked up, the redhead's ridiculous comment stoking his sense of humor. Some of the few still awake cadets leaned over and asked what was so funny, getting cursed at by Reno for their curiosity.

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Midgar was cold and the only green in sight amongst miles of gray concrete and metal tubes were some tattered false plants in the corner of the lobby, which they were forbidden to enter.

A strong wind blew across the 'top plate', and Harry and Cloud were the only ones not shivering, the bone-deep chills of England and no doubt freezing winters in the Nibel Mountains preparing both of them for cold of any kind.

They were following a nameless sergeant across vast stretches of completely level concrete dotted here and there with a small building or training area that required equipment. Mostly, though, they were marked out as running tracks or hand-to-hand sparring blocks. There were a few obstacle courses that looked interesting, and Harry wondered if it ever rained here.

Probably not.

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End chapter 5

Sorry this took a little longer to get out.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Despite Reno's ominous warning on the bus about being separated, Harry was still a surplus cadet and was therefore assigned to a barracks at random. The random barracks turned out to be Cloud's, and they squeezed into a corner bunk together along with a thirteen-year-old named Kyle who was almost always caffeinated to a dangerous degree.

To say the training routine was rigorous would be a gross understatement. Although he was really starting to enjoy sparring with a sword and using his reflexes for something more useful then grabbing flying balls from the air, Harry was getting pretty worried for the boys in his barrack, which seemed to be aged from twelve to fourteen. It wasn't healthy for the body's development to be exhausted and strained like they were. Since there weren't a lot of them, they were all lumped together in one building while there were two barracks for the sixteen-year-olds, 5 for those seventeen or just turning eighteen, and then all above that were mixed without much order. Harry didn't even want to think about why the younger boys were kept separate from the older ones while sleeping.

"Harry?"

"Hm?" he looked up from doing his homework to Cloud, who was leaning over the middle bunk to talk to him.

"Do you remember what the name of the chemical used to prevent Mako poisoning is called? I'm working on my Health paper."

"Oh, um…hold on…" He rifled through his textbooks, finally getting the one he needed and going to the index. "It's called Challem."

"Thanks!"

"No problem." He smiled up at Cloud, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing when Cloud blushed. He hadn't _tried _to en courage what he now knew to be a small crush on the other boy's part, but it was kind of hard to avoid it when he didn't know what Cloud would consider reciprocated feelings. He should probably get over his awkwardness and have a straightforward conversation with the blonde about this, but not yet.

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His desk was made of mahogany, perfectly shaped by a designer's hands into the most comfortable, beautiful work space one could imagine. However, it was buried under piles of over-due paperwork, used take-out boxes, and the occasional odd knickknack, most of which were broken in some way. Despite its chaotic appearance, Zack Fair claimed to know where everything on it was.

He was lying, but he wasn't going to tell those who asked that his only excuse for being such a slob was that he preferred to spend his every spare second of free time in the sparring rooms with whoever who dared to fight him anymore. He hadn't counted on slowly running out of willing partners when he reached First Class Rank, but what could one do? He hadn't _asked _to be promoted so early.

Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, the taste of blood still in his mouth since spitting wasn't allowed, he braced himself for Sephiroth's next attack. Sephiroth was technically classified as a workaholic, which Zack considered to be far more dangerous than schizophrenia or a split personality, so it was rare that he caught the General out of his office and doing warm-ups in the sparring rooms as he had fortunately seen this evening.

Sephiroth, judging him ready again, took a swing at him from the left, which he dodged just in time. They hadn't dulled their blades, and he had absolutely no desire to become a cripple so early into his career.

"Ah-ha!" He spied what he thought to be an opening in the General's defenses, tried to stab him, and got flipped onto his back with the tip of Masamune pointed at his throat for his efforts. He laughed weakly, coughing whilst trying to get the air into his lungs again.

"Best of three?" he croaked weakly, never mind that this was the eighth time he'd been knocked off of his feet in less than five minutes. He was ridiculously proud of lasting five whole minutes against Sephiroth, although he suspected that his superior had been letting him have some advantages to lengthen the match.

Sephiroth smirked, which was as close to a smile as you ever got out of him, and shook his head. "I could personally go for some more, but I don't trust your health. I would like you to get your lungs looked at by the medics."

He got slowly to his feet, with the unexpected assistance of Sephiroth's large hand gripping the shoulder he hadn't nearly pulled out of its socket. "Thank you, sir. We'll have to do this again sometime- the Seconds aren't nearly enough of a challenge and all of the Firsts seem to be workaholics."

He got another smirk, and a pat of the shoulder ushering him towards the doors. "I expect those reports on the new cadets from Junon on my desk the day after tomorrow, Fair."

"Yes, sir!" Zack saluted and then left the sparring rooms, heading down the halls for the small medic's office available for minor injuries sustained in the rooms. How the hell was he going to write a condensed report when he'd lost the files themselves?

This was why, every board meeting, he petitioned for a secretary, preferably young, pretty and blonde.

Entering the office, he got the evil eye from Kenneth, their resident Healer. "What the hell have you done to yourself now, Zack?"

"Just a few bruises from sparring with General."

Zack could understand the man's irritation. He was in here at least once every two days with an injury of some kind, since he just wasn't the most graceful, polite, or patient person to ever walk the earth. In fact, he was downright impatient and didn't believe in being polite to people he didn't like (unless Sephiroth ordered him to behave himself) because his parents had been very strict with him as a child in the matter of lying and he considered kissing up to people a form of that. His theories had always coaxed a smile out of Angeal-

He choked, forgetting that he was being tended to by Kenneth, who asked, "What's wrong? Do you hurt somewhere else?"

Swallowing, he shook his head. "No, I just remembered something I have to do."

"Well, alright." Kenneth sounded defeated, and Zack knew he was disappointed that he hadn't confided in him like the other Soldiers were wont. He couldn't help it; people said that talking about things made them better, but he had never agreed with that theory in regards to himself.

He knew that he would find himself getting a drink or five when he was done here.

00000000

Harry rubbed his sore shoulders, smiling at Reno across their mess hall table as he listened to him recount how he had broken some kind of agility record that morning in exercises. He could see Cloud rolling his eyes next to him, eating portions of food that wouldn't have satisfied a bird.

Harry sneakily slipped some of his slab of unidentifiable meat onto the blonde's plate.

"Hey!" Cloud whispered, trying to return the meat but getting fended off by Harry's plastic fork.

"Uh-uh. You're much too scrawny, Cloud, and you're going to eat what I give you."

"Says the guy who drinks coffee for breakfast and eats only a piece of bread for lunch." Cloud grumbled, but began the frustrating hacking that one is reduced to when given tough meat and only a flimsy plastic knife with which to cut it.

"At least I eat a so-called "normal" portion for dinner." Harry replied, spooning some yellowed peas into his mouth. They tasted like stale oatmeal.

"I just got an idea." Reno suddenly said, eyes far away. Harry sighed and waited for the redhead to divulge what he was thinking.

"We should go out drinking tonight!"

Cloud choked on the stringy meat, spitting it on Kyle by accident, who shrieked and flung a chunk of brown apple at him. Kyle then ignored them for the rest of dinner, and Harry knew he was going to whine to him later about keeping his 'pet' under control. Harry didn't mind, though, because an outraged thirteen-year-old with a manly obsession was a lot funnier than anything else available after hours.

"Anyway, back to the drinks, you two are coming with me!" Reno punched his own hand, looking more than a little crazy.

Harry just stared.

"Er…?" He hadn't had anything to drink in months, not since he had been brought to this strange world, and it had been over six months since then. What could it hurt? "Well, I'm up for it, but no pressure Cloud-"

Cloud crossed his arms. "If you're going, then I'm going."

"Alright, Reno, it looks like we're wasting our second paycheck on cheap booze. This had better be worth our while."

"Oh, it will be." Reno smirked evilly and popped a section of apple into his mouth.

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Zack was starting to feel a little better now, and the cool light patterns that shone through the three empty beer bottles were soothing to look at. Two girls had come over trying to flirt with him so far, but he wasn't in the mood tonight. He set his half-empty fourth bottle next to the other three, making an 'ooh' sound when new patterns emerged. Due to the horrid process known as 'Mako injections and Enhancement', he was only half as tipsy as he ought to be after four bottles, and getting any drunker was more than he was willing to afford. He supposed that he should leave now, but couldn't make his body move from its comfortable slouch in the corner of his booth.

A cool breeze came inside when the door opened, and he looked up to see a dangerously tall redhead, a short blonde, and a slouching boy with what might have been a birds nest made from black curls. All looked under eighteen, but nobody really enforced that around here so they wouldn't be turned out. He sat up a little straighter when he saw the way the blonde was looking around. He was a people-lover at heart and loved watching them experience new things, and the smallest one had obviously never been in a bar before.

He collected the condensation from his bottle on his fingers, the cold feeling numbed just slightly.

He opened his eyes slowly, not realizing that he had closed them. Looking around, he saw that it was much later and the crowds in the bar had shifted. There were now several separate packs of sluttish, and very drunk, females dancing wildly to music, a very violent game of pool going on in one corner, and all of the usual kinds at the bar. His sharp eyes picked out one hunched figure, resting his head in his arms that looked vaguely familiar. Maybe he was some new intern at work?

Either way, he decided that going over and saying hello would be a good idea. Managing to walk in a straight line, since he had slept most of the alcohol off, he tapped the brunette's shoulder, taking a step back when he realized that his shoulders were shaking.

"Um, are you okay?"

The brunette sobbed quietly and his head disappeared deeper into his arms. "Please go away."

He gestured for the girl sitting on the barstool next to him to get off of it, and she looked him over before complying, mingling conspicuously nearby with several Soldiers who had just come in the door. He decided to not ruin her hopes, and leaned closer to the boy he now knew to be crying. Normally weepy drunks disgusted him, but he remembered him as one of the three underage kids to come inside and he hadn't looked like the shallow type.

"Hey, do you want another drink?"

The brunette sniffled, sitting up a little straighter before nodding. "That'd be nice; thanks."

"No problem. Have we met someplace?" He knew the answer was going to be no, but now that he could get a good look at him, he saw that he was pretty cute despite his crazy hair (he couldn't really complain about anybody else's hair when his own had given him the nickname 'Porcupine Head' back in Gongaga).

"I don't think so." He rubbed at his eyes, smiling at the bartender as he handed him his generic beer. "I'm Harry, by the way."

"Zack." Zack scuffed a hand through his hair, a gesture he hadn't been nervous enough to do in a long time. Now that they were looking at each other properly, he found himself wanting to do quite a bit just to keep those un-enhanced eyes on him. Eyes naturally that bright were rare, and they were a little hypnotic. Or maybe he had just drunk his current beer too fast.

"If it's not a personal question or anything, why were you crying?"

Harry sniffled faintly again and looked away. "I just…this is kind of hard to explain, but I guess I forgot that they were dead and then suddenly I remembered and it was like it was the first time I saw it." He hiccupped and took a swig of his beer, the foam clinging to his upper lip before he swiped it away with his tongue. Zack stared.

"Forget I said anything." Harry mumbled, looking down shyly. A fat tear rolled down his cheek, landing on his thigh.

"No, I know exactly what you mean. I'm in Soldier, and sometimes I've turned around to say something to one of my friends but then I remember that they're dead. It makes me choke up pretty bad, although I'm getting over it slowly."

Harry nodded. "That's good news. Heh, there's hope for me."

"Yeah."

Several hours went by, in which they alternated buying each other drinks and sometimes talked, sometimes remained quiet for long intervals. Harry began to cry again a half an hour before closing time, at two in the morning, and Zack, in a fit of drunken pity, asked him if he wanted a walk back to wherever he lived.

Harry cryptically answered, "I have no home, I have no family, and I have no friends. Everything is dead."

This is how Harry ended up spending the night in Zack's pajamas and sharing a bed with him.

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End chapter 6

I know I've been evil about updating this, but the holidays happened and I got sidetracked with work and more work and then trying to read the books I got as gifts, so I've been a little off kilter. Anyways, since I finished this on December 26th, Happy Boxing Day everybody!

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	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

"I challenge you to the ultimate game of pool!" Reno suddenly shrieked, dramatically pointing his finger at Cloud, who was looking a little rosy from his first experience with beer.

"You're on!" He slurred, standing too quickly and grabbing onto a snickering Harry for support. "Thanks."

"No problem, hon. Kick his ass!"

"I won't let you down!" Cloud had never played pool before, but it looked simple enough so he wasn't worried. He was still grateful Reno hadn't asked him to bet money yet, since he hadn't brought very much with him and had had to ask Harry to pay for his last drink. He planned to pay him back once they went back to their barracks despite Harry saying that it was 'on him'.

Pool turned out to be a bit more complicated (and time-consuming) than he had thought, and he was mildly upset that they hadn't started playing before he had gotten tipsy, but wasn't going to say anything out loud lest it trigger one of Reno's condescending speeches about 'children'. He was turning fifteen next month, and he didn't consider himself to be a child anymore, thank you very much.

Gnawing on his abused lip, he carefully aimed his pool stick and crowed happily when he knocked a ball into the nearest hole. Reno looked miffed, and challenged him to a rematch, which he was about to accept when the bartender came over to them, shutting off the radio as he came closer, saying,

"Sorry, boys, but the bar is closing and I'd appreciate it if you two would leave the building so I can lock up."

Cloud blinked, looked at the blurry clock, and gaped when he saw that it was a few minutes past two in the morning. Then he noticed something even weirder than the way time had sneaked away from him. Harry was no longer sitting at the bar; in fact, the building was empty except for them, the bartender, and a calico cat sleeping on the sofa behind them. Looking to Reno, he asked, "Where did Harry go?

Reno looked around too. "Oh my god, where is he?"

Smirking at the two teenager's panic, the bartender, known as Jim to most that bothered to read his cracked name tag, said, "If you're talking about your pretty friend, he left about fifteen minutes ago."

"Oh. Okay. Bye!" Reno grabbed Cloud's arm and dragged him out the door, aiming for the train station. Unlike other cities, Midgar's public transportation system accommodated those with night jobs and they were able to catch the two-thirty train back to ShinRa Headquarters. A wink from Reno was enough to get the guards to not mention two cadets wandering around that much after curfew, and Reno was even nice enough to help Cloud unlock the door to his barracks and guide him over his middle bunk. An energetic-looking boy who introduced himself as Kyle accepted the Potion from Reno to administer to Cloud tomorrow morning with a death threat.

Reno almost threw up on him as payback for his attitude, but decided against it because he didn't want Harry to hear about that. He didn't know why he was still mooning after the brunette even after Harry had sweetly explained to him that he just didn't feel the same way (at all), but since when had his emotions made sense?

He nearly vomited on his bunk-mate Hermann but made it to the bathroom just in time. He hoped Harry wouldn't kill him for encouraging him to get drunk in the morning at training, which was going to be hell even though it was only a half-day. They were given 5 and a half days of hard training and then Sunday off, and it was rumored that the only reason they had Sunday off in the first place was because of some kind of petition put up by a religious group. Reno didn't care how they'd gotten it, only that he was unspeakably grateful for it.

0000000

Harry stirred, nuzzling the pillow cradling his head and dimly noting that the sheets covering him weren't scratchy like those allotted to the cadet's barracks. Cracking an eye open, he groaned, discovering in one second that his mouth was imitating the Sahara desert and his eyes had turned to fireballs.

"Hey, drink this." He could tell from the way they were pronouncing their vowels that they were whispering, but it sounded unbelievably loud anyway. He blindly groped for what they were offering and jumped when the rim of a potion tube was placed against his lips and somebody cupped the back of his head to help him drink it.

His throat convulsed as what felt like ice poured down it, and he choked. The hand holding his head shifted to rub his neck and he managed to swallow the rest without a problem. His head hurt considerably less now, and he was able to sit up and get a look at his benefactor.

Pale blue eyes and a blinding smile swarmed his vision and he blinked a few times. The guy looked really familiar…

"Oh! You're the nice guy from the bar! Uh…Zacharias or Zackary or something, right?"

"Yeah, and this is my bed you're currently in."

Harry blushed and looked around, seeing nondescript white walls and plain furniture…or what would have been plain furnishings if everything hadn't been broken or crooked in some way and loaded to the near-breaking point with paraphernalia of every kind imaginable.

"You're something of a pack rat, I'm guessing?" Harry said conversationally, leaning back against the headboard to dodge the swat Zack aimed at his head. He should be feeling nervous about being alone in a new location with a strange man he'd met at a bar, but he was feeling very comfortable around Zack despite how distracting the kanji tattoos peeking from the waistband of his sleep pants were. He didn't want to look like a pervert, but they were very hard to ignore since blue ink usually didn't turn out that nicely-

"See something you like?" Zack's grin was almost lecherous, and Harry quickly replied,

"No!"

"Uh-huh, I believe you. Do you like them?" He adjusted the waistband of his trousers to show the entirety of the tattoos off and Harry decided to stop acting like an awkward female and just be himself.

"Yeah, I was surprised at your choice of ink color. From what I've heard, colored ink isn't the best idea for darker skin."

"That's what the guy said too, but I guess my country-boy tan isn't the same as naturally dark skin. Are you hungry, by the way? I probably should have asked you that first, heh heh." He rubbed the back of his head, getting off the bed and stretching one of his arms behind his back.

"Its okay, I don't think I could eat without throwing up right now. Do you know what time it is?"

"Its two minutes until noon."

Harry squeaked, getting out of the bed so fast his foot got tangled in the sheets and tripped him. He hit the floor with a loud thump, smacking his head on the bed frame.

He groaned.

"Dude, are you okay?"

"Ugh, no."

Zack chuckled, grabbing him by his armpits (it was then that Harry noticed the gray t-shirt and shorts he was dressed in, which meant Zack had undressed him) and helping him sit up on the floor.

"How about I get you some juice instead? Its not healthy to start the day without at least some kind of food product in your stomach."

"Juice sounds great, thank you." Harry smiled what Reno called his 'sweetheart' smile and stood to follow Zack into his kitchenette, which was as cluttered as he was expecting. None of the dishes matched, and there was a tea kettle shaped like a cute puppy. He smiled, running his finger along its smooth finish and getting playfully swatted away by Zack as the other man reached over his head to snag a tumbler from the shelf above his head.

"Okay, I have orange juice and cranberry juice. Which one sounds good to you?"

He'd never had cranberry juice before, and he was feeling a little adventurous, so he replied, "Cranberry, please."

"That sounds good to me too." Zack chirped, pulling the jug out of the miniature refrigerator and pouring some in their tumblers. "Cheers!"

"Yeah, cheers." Harry sounded glum even to himself, and he wished that that word hadn't made him think of Fred and George, the first time they'd sneaked him Firewhisky. At least they weren't separated, together even in death. He shuddered to think of how horrible living alone as one half of a whole would be.

"You alright?"

Harry nodded wordlessly, drinking his juice slowly and grimacing at the sour taste at first until his taste buds adjusted to it and decided that they liked it.

"So what do you do?"

"Hm?" Harry looked up from the Mickey Mouse decorations on the Tumbler, raising an eyebrow at Zack, who was staring blatantly at one of Harry's battle scars, the long silvery lines spread out in a star formation along the right side of his neck from where Fenrir Greyback had nearly infected him.

Zack visibly shook his head, asking again what he did.

"For work, you mean? I'm a cadet in the Soldier program."

Zack choked on his juice. "A-are you really?"

Harry wondered what was wrong, but pretended he didn't notice because he didn't want to embarrass his host. "Yeah, I've been here for a couple of months, and I like it so far. I was worried that I would be separated from a younger friend of mine, but we ended up in the same barracks because I guess there were an odd number of us and they didn't know where else to put me." he shrugged casually, leaning his hip against the counter. "What about you?"

"I'm also in Soldier."

Harry waited for him to elaborate, but Zack was silent, staring bemusedly at his Winnie-the-Pooh cup.

He shrugged, and said, "I guess I missed morning training. Ha-ha, do you think my instructor will flay me alive or only threaten to?"

Zack snickered against his will, remembering the days when he too was a slave to the bitter old men, past their fighting days, assigned to training them in the arts of war. Training had been hell before Angeal had noticed him and considered him worthy of apprenticing him, and he hadn't been more grateful to anyone else ever again.

He idly wondered if Harry would approve of being chosen as a protégé. He wondered if Harry was strong or fast…he wondered if Harry would mind a superior officer kissing him while they were sober and without the excuse of alcohol, and most of all he wondered if he would be able to get his number without looking like a creep.

He never found out, though, since Harry quietly left a few minutes later, a soft thank-you lingering in the air once the door clicked shut, after changing into his clothes, which smelled like smoke and, strangely enough, cologne. Harry didn't wear cologne.

_Last Night…_

_Zack sat close to Harry on the bus, nuzzling his soft hair. He normally didn't do this kind of thing, but his inner hero was enjoying having someone to protect and comfort, and Harry hadn't complained yet; in fact, he was nuzzling back, his hand gripping Zack's knee to help him keep his balance._

"_You smell nice." Harry slurred, wrapping an arm around Zack's neck and scooting closer to presumably inhale him. Their noses bumped and Zack's heart stopped beating for a second as he met brilliant green eyes. _

_He leaned down the remaining half an inch and cautiously pressed their lips together. Harry's mouth was soft and moist with liquor, and he tasted bitter, but Zack couldn't be bothered to give a damn about that because Harry was the first person he'd _really _kissed in months and he was going to enjoy it._

_Getting off the bus, he flashed his I.D. to the guards, ignoring their lecherous looks directed at Harry, and started the short walk to the Soldier's quarters. They were more like tiny apartments, connected in long rows and stacked on top of each other, but it was the first home he'd had ever since he'd left Gongaga and he wasn't one to complain._

_Harry leaned against his back when he stopped to fish his card-key out, and he shuddered, turning to wrap an arm tightly around Harry's shoulders to give him some leverage while he did his damnedest to suck Harry's soul out through his mouth. Harry groaned and murmured something that sounded strangely like 'figs' when they separated to let Zack open the door. From there they ascended a single flight of concrete steps, down a claustrophobically-thin hallway, and finally to the door of his apartment. _

_He had pressed Harry onto the bed and was acquainting himself with his neck when he heard the brunette's breaths even out. Sitting up, he saw that Harry was fast asleep, comfortably nestled in the fold of the rumpled coverlet. Partly disappointed, partly grateful, he dug out some sleep clothes for the both of them, resisting the urge to divest Harry of his underwear as he stripped him to replace his street clothes with his own. _

_He kissed Harry goodnight and settled down beside him, remaining awake for almost an hour afterwards just staring at the street-lights playing over Harry's soft cheeks. _

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Harry stopped by his barracks, empty because it was lunch-time, grabbed a change of clothes, and then headed for the communal showers. His skin felt sticky with dried sweat and his hair was getting greasy, so he made sure to take longer than his usual two minutes.

He wondered what he was going to tell his instructor.

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End chapter 7

Behold the update!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: not to be picky or anything, but if you review and ask a question but don't sign in first, I don't have a reply feature and therefore can't answer. Anyway, somebody asked what the age difference between Harry and Zack was: it's a little less than 4 years since Harry is turning 17 soon and Zack is 20. Thanks to all of my readers/reviewers!

Abby~

CHAPTER 8

Cloud twisted his fingers, practically bouncing on the crappy plastic bench allotted to the cadet's eating areas. Reno twitched once, twice, and then snapped,

"Will you stop bouncing, Cloud!? You're moving the entire table and I'm trying to eat!"

Cloud flushed and did his best to sit still, but his foot started tapping. His feelings weren't hurt by Reno yelling at him because he knew Reno was just projecting his own worries about Harry onto him, and he could hardly accuse him of being unfair since he'd nearly strangled Kyle when the younger boy had nonchalantly said that it was entirely possible Harry had been kidnapped on his way back last night and shipped off to the sex markets below the plate.

He shuddered at the very idea. Harry might not agree with him, but Cloud thought Harry was very pretty and could get into some seriously abusive situations if he didn't watch his back and…and…

Tears welled up in his eyes and he cursed himself for getting himself so worked up, justified or not. One of the bullies' favorite nicknames for him back in Nibelheim had been crybaby and he hated it when he cried, since it not only made him feel like a little kid but also very weak when he needed to be strong enough to take care of his mother.

He grabbed a pen out of his pocket and wrote a quick note to himself on his inner wrist; 'Write Mom'.

Reno looked over to see what he was doing and raised his eyebrows. "You write to your mom?"

Cloud stiffened. He didn't want to look girly, but at the same time the loyal son he had always been refused to let him lie. "Yes. I haven't written her in a long time and I don't want her to worry about me."

The redhead took a bite of his dry bread after dipping it in his soup, mumbling, "I wish I had a mother to write to."

Since Cloud didn't really know anything about Reno's home life, and he was desperately curious, he asked, "So you live with your dad?"

Reno snorted. "Nope. I haven't lived with anybody since I was six, because I don't need to hold somebody's hand to thrive."

"Oh." Cloud whispered. He sensed that this was a sensitive topic and didn't say anything else for the duration of lunch.

Just as it was ending, the majority of the diners already off enjoying the weekend, Harry came loping in and headed straight for their table, having the gall to smile at them. Cloud was just opening his mouth to tell him off, but Reno beat him to it, standing and hissing, "How dare you make me worry like that?"

"Worry like what?" Harry sat and snagged Reno's unopened water bottle, twisting off the cap and taking a sip. He blinked when his friends just stared at him. "Um, what happened?"

"You missed morning training, not to mention that you never came back last night. We were freaking out, dammit!" Reno slammed his fist on the table, getting a dirty look from the kitchen staff scrubbing the empty tables.

"Oh…I didn't think you guys would care, and it wasn't like I could call you since neither of you have phones. Besides, the reason I'm late to lunch is because I stopped by the sergeant's office and got assigned the oh-so-lovely task of assisting the cleaning staff in the corporate buildings every night for the next three months, during my usual study time, scrubbing offices. Aren't you two jealous?"

"Ouch." Cloud looked out the tiny window at the massive building dominating the Upper Plate. He wasn't jealous at all.

"Exactly." Harry finished off the water, setting the empty bottle back on Reno's tray.

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A month later, Harry was sprinting as fast as he could through the grid of identical concrete hallways on his way to training. He was early by half-an-hour, but he had started running in the morning before it started and had woken up later than usual today.

Heading for the track outside, he slowed down as he approached the doors that would let him outside so he would be able to scan his I.D. card.

Reno was leaning against the door waiting for him, arms crossed. "You're late."

Harry sighed. "Reno, the only reason you're here is because you've convinced yourself that I spend my mornings doing something besides jogging- I'm under no obligation to be here at a certain time."

"God, you're cranky today!"

Harry winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. And just bear with my suspiciousness; when it comes to battles of the will, I am unbeatable!" He struck a pose, and then followed Harry outside into the blue-ish light of early morning. "Shit, we beat the sun!"

"Yep."

"Do you always get up this early?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go out to dinner with me?"

"No."

"Dammit!"

Harry laughed quietly, starting to jog once his trainers hit the asphalt of the running track, setting his watch (a Muggle contraption that had taken some getting used to) to keep track of how long he ran.

Reno huffed and tried to keep up, jokingly picking up his speed to surpass Harry's briefly before falling back so they moved abreast to one another.

Some Soldiers from various ranks and even some of the regular infantry came out gradually as they ran, and they would nod at Harry as they went. Reno's eyes widened when he saw someone with the Turk's distinctive armband pass by them. He hadn't said anything, since most of his peers were obsessed with SOLDIER and General Sephiroth, but lately the life of a soldier hadn't been too appealing to think about. He had always been an agile child, and valued speed over strength, which was practically blasphemy to the instructors they had.

The Turk smirked at him after brushing past his arm, moving considerably faster than the lower-ranked Soldiers who hadn't been enhanced yet.

Maybe he should tell Harry about his Turk ambitions? He could say for a fact that Harry wouldn't judge him, since the brunette seemed to be incapable of judging anyone. It was one of the things he liked best about him, actually, and the primary reason he knew he could get away with flirting shamelessly. He had to practice sometime!

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Pushing the heavy cart laden high with cleaning supplies and disgusting-smelling chemicals that hurt his lungs to breathe in, harry made his way down the hall of the eighth floor of the Corporate building. He had been assigned floors 7 and 8, each containing 10 small offices that would need to be vacuumed, emptied of garbage, and any blank surfaces rubbed down. It was 9 o'clock at night, and Harry had a paper due tomorrow that was only half-written because he'd had to skip lunch (which he now ate to keep his strength up) in order to research for it and then write as much as he could. With something that pressing hanging over his head, he was working double-time and the vacuum zoomed quickly over the alternately beige and olive green carpet. So far he'd only run into Reeves Tuesti, who was working late and graciously left his office for a few minutes so Harry could clean it, for which he was grateful.

The regular staff, working the other levels, had warned him to avoid Heidegger if he saw him since the man was often overly friendly late at night, and Harry had been tense ever since.

Entering the office at the very end of the hall, very relieved that he was almost done even though this particular office was always filthy, he pushed open the door and froze when he saw who was sitting behind the desk, head in their arms and fast asleep.

It was Zack, the guy from the bar! He'd know that hair anywhere…

Trying to be quiet, since he knew that this could be unspeakably awkward, he gingerly picked up his waste bin and carried it over to his cart to empty it into the garbage bag, replacing it when he was done and accidentally jostling the desk. A few stacks of paper wobbled and Harry caught his breath, releasing it when they went still again. And then with a whooshing sound, the largest one toppled onto the floor, knocking over the floor-lamp, a loud 'crash' resounding in the small room.

Zack's head jerked up and Harry squeaked, dropping his cleaning rag. Zack blinked, looked from Harry to the mess, from the mess back to Harry.

"Um…"

"I'm so sorry, sir! It was an accident!" Harry decided to take the ignorant approach and pretend that he didn't know the man in front of him, much less what kind of kisser he was. The thought that Zack could have been a superior officer hadn't even occurred to him, but it did explain why he had never seen him around (not that he was looking for him or anything…).

"Oh, it's alright. Those weren't organized anyway, and my desk is so messy that it was bound to happen sooner or later- I'll help you clean it up."

He stood and came around his desk to kneel on the carpet next to Harry, busily stacking reports haphazardly in direct contrast to Harry's neat stacks. "So…you clean now? I thought you were a cadet."

Harry blushed. "Well, that time I missed training because I was hung-over, I got assigned cleaning duty for a couple of months."

"Oh, shit, I should have waked you earlier."

"No, its okay; waking up any earlier probably would have killed me. I don't, you know, drink very often." He hoped that that didn't make him sound really young since he kind of wanted to impress Zack.

"Heh, I could tell."

"Oh, shut up!" Harry smacked him, laughing until he realized that he'd just hit a superior. "I'm sorry-"

Zack was staring at him, and then he whispered, "Don't be," grabbed the back of Harry's neck, and kissed him.

Standing just inside the door-frame, hand raised to knock on the door frame, Sephiroth stared. He didn't know that Zack was dating a member of the cleaning staff.

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End chapter 8

Sorry this one is short-ish.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Sephiroth shifted awkwardly and waited a minute, not wanting to interrupt what he'd been instructed was known as a 'private moment', but after two minutes he decided that he was going to have to interrupt them anyway so he might as well do it now. "I apologize for interrupting-"

Harry pulled back like he'd been burned; face bright red and more than a little out of breath. Apparently those rumors about Mako enhancing a human's ability to hold their breath were true.

Zack was looking a little nervous too, and suddenly burst out, "This isn't what it looks like!", and avoided looking at Sephiroth.

They were silent, all feeling very awkward for different reasons. Harry hoped he wasn't going to be discharged for 'seducing an officer', Zack prayed that Sephiroth wouldn't kill him for slacking and supposedly 'molesting' the staff again, and Sephiroth…Sephiroth was confused, so he did the best thing he could think of.

"Zack, I still need that report."

"Er, which report, sir?"

"Zack, you know that you don't have to call me that after regular work hours. And I really need that report on Mission #3781. It's already a week late and the President is foaming at the mouth."

Zack seemed to come alive, looking more like his usual cheerful self now that he knew he wasn't in danger of being sued, castrated, or both. "Oh, yeah, hold on a second and let me dig it out." He began shuffling the paper scattered around him. Still a little pink, Harry asked what it looked like. He hated just sitting here doing nothing while the older men did whatever it was they were doing.

"Its on blue paper and says Mission #3781, a.k.a 'Night Flight'."

Harry nodded and began to dutifully sift through the paper, squeaking when his hand brushed against a long-fingered hand that was distinctly different from Zack's broad palm. The skin was warm. Looking up through his fringe, which was once again tickling the edges of his eyes and really needed to be cut, he saw Sephiroth calmly sorting alongside him.

Being next to a man with a reputation like what he'd been hearing around the compound was a little intimidating, but at the same time he felt completely comfortable. After all, how many fainting fans had he encountered in his own 'glory days'? He was human too, and considered it more than a little wrong to idealize a fellow human. Being chased by a mob, consisting of a majority of handbag-wielding mothers, couldn't be fun for anyone but a lunatic.

"I found it!" Zack cheered and tossed the stapled stack of blue paper to Sephiroth, who caught it with a blurred movement of his arm that Harry could have missed if he'd blinked just then. The intimidation came back, and he shrank into himself a tiny bit, doing his best to look inoffensive.

"You know I don't like it when you throw around the company's property." Sephiroth scolded.

"I'll try to avoid tossing you about, then." Zack winked and scooted closer to Harry. "Was that all you needed or is there some other vitally important assignment I've been putting off that you need to nag me about?"

Sephiroth stood gracefully, smoothed his trousers and said, "I would prefer if you could do things without my nagging at all, but I suppose there are some things still impossible." He sighed.

"Hey!"

Sephiroth smirked and moved out the door, saying over his shoulder, "I hope you don't mind the security guards watching your display- there are still cameras in your office."

Harry wished the floor would swallow him up.

Zack snickered, tried to suppress it, and burst out laughing, resting his forehead on Harry's shoulder as he shook with laughter. "Oh. My. God! I can't believe he saw that!"

Harry found himself laughing as well, the tension in the room that he hadn't noticed before melting away while they giggled like little girls.

"He's never going to let me live that down, you know, but I still think it was worth it." Zack sobered, kissing Harry's cheek. Harry didn't even blink, though, since Reno and Cloud did it all the time. "Do you want to get something to eat?"

"I would love to, but I still need to vacuum your office and get rid of my cart, garbage and all."

"Well, I could help you with that-"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not allowed to have help since it's supposed to be punishment."

"Okay, what about after you're done?"

"It'll be ten at night and don't restaurants close at-"

"Eight, yeah, but you're not seeing all of our options. We could always go to a convenience store and get some of those weird slushy things that turn your insides blue!"

Harry laughed. "I don't know…I kind of like the color my intestines are right now."

"Aw, you know you want to! And besides, you'd be with me."

"That's the main thing I'm hesitating about." Harry teased before standing and fetching the vacuum cleaner. "Let me vacuum and then you can come down with me to storage where I'll ditch my cart."

"Ok, ok, I'll stay out of your way." Zack exaggeratedly tiptoed out of the office and stood just outside to watch Harry zoom his way around with the vacuum.

It took him less than two minutes to clean his carpet completely and there were never any blank spaces to be wiped, so he replaced his vacuum on the cart and waited for Zack to get his coat semi-impatiently. He'd skipped lunch _and _dinner and his stomach wasn't very happy with him.

"Alright, let's mosey!"

Harry stared blankly. "That is the stupidest thing I have heard you say so far, no offense or anything."

"Heh, its okay, I say it _because _it's stupid! And it drives Lazard crazy. He says it makes me sound like an uneducated backwoodsman."

Harry began pushing his cart, Zack keeping pace beside him and obviously itching to help. Deciding that taking the Soldier's mind off of it might be best for the well-being of the cart, he asked, "Who is Lazard?"

"He's the Director of the SOLDIER Program, which basically means that he organizes a lot of missions and…and…other stuff."

"I see." Harry pushed the button for the elevator, humming. He swallowed, eyes watering, when he realized he was humming the same tune he always sang the Hogwart's School Song to.

"Are you alright?" Zack asked, noticing that the elevator had arrived and Harry was making no move to get on it. Harry flinched and nodded stiffly, maneuvering his cart inside and squeezing to the side so Zack could fit in with him.

Pressed tightly beside him, Zack smiled to cover how nervous he was. Did this count as their first date or their second? Gah, why was he even thinking about this?!

Aeris had definitely rubbed off on him.

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"So…did you have a particular convenience store in mind?" Harry asked, somewhat dazed by the seemingly endless strip mall of little stores selling odds and ends. It was enough to make one dizzy.

"Uh…" Zack was also dazed. He had been so busy with work lately that he hadn't come down here in a while. He'd forgotten how creepy it was. "What about that one?" he gestured towards a building with a green awning and windows plastered with advertisements, one of which had a gleaming image of the aforementioned slushy on it.

"Sure."

They cautiously approached their destination, Zack guiding them gingerly around the first drunks of the evening who were either stumbling home or loitering looking for trouble. Several leered but most didn't even acknowledge them, for which Zack was relieved. This was hardly the most romantic location, and Harry might not even be considering it a date at all since he didn't remember insinuating that they were romantically-

Harry suddenly yelled, "Oi!" and walked off towards three teenagers over by the freezer section.

Not seeing what else to do with himself, Zack followed, hoping that none of the boys present were Harry's boyfriend. As they got closer he recognized the blonde and redhead from the bar, and there was some other kid there who looked about twelve and about to explode with energy.

"Reno, what the hell are you doing here? And you too, Cloud!"

"And me!" The other blonde squealed, chewing vapidly on what was once a straw, now reduced to a crinkled ball of bright red plastic.

"Sorry, Kyle, I didn't see you there. But seriously, what are you guys doing out? Isn't it past curfew or something?"

Reno shrugged. "Yeah, but I was hungry and so was Kyle, and we didn't want to leave Cloud at the mercy of his manlier room mates so we all went here together. Its kind of funny, though, since we were just talking about how it would have been better if you were here."

"Cool. Oh, and this is Zack."

Reno straightened and Cloud stopped eating his candy bar. "What kind of friend? And where have you been hiding him? We're around you all the time except when you're out cleaning."

"What do you mean by 'kind' of friend? And which flavor of slushy tastes better? I'm kind of leaning towards the blue one but you never know…" He trailed off, staring intently at the hissing machine. Reno tried to gather himself before answering, but he still sounded like a nagging girlfriend when he said,

"I mean is he your boyfriend."

Harry hadn't been paying attention, and only mumbled, "You know what, I'm going with the red one. I want to see how much it actually tastes like it's supposed flavor." He looked at the Soldier, who was being uncharacteristically quiet. "Do you want to get the blue one so we can share them between us?"

"Ooh, good idea!" Zack headed for the counter with his wallet, backtracking to grab Harry a second later when he realized that he wasn't following. "Come on!"

"Coming!"

Reno sulked. He wasn't going to let Harry get away with avoiding his question, whether his evasion had been intentional or not.

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Harry hummed against Zack's shoulder, oblivious to the daggers Reno was glaring at the Soldier, eyes slipping closed as the sugar slump really hit him. He should have remembered that sugar had a draining effect on him once it left his system.

"Do you want to come over and watch that film with me? I don't want to watch a scary movie by myself." They had wandered around the strip mall earlier and one of the stores had sold videos. Zack had found one with a tell-tale blood and guts spattered cover and bought it, but then decided that he didn't want to creep himself out at night and had been nagging Harry to watch it with him.

"Are you going home alone, Zack?" Harry asked sleepily, trying to get comfortable.

Zack chuckled. "I think that's up to you, hon."

Sitting up straighter, Harry addressed his only awake room mate sitting across from him. Kyle had unexpectedly conked out a few minutes ago, and much prodding had proven that he was deeply asleep. "Cloud, you don't mind if I satisfy this big coward here and go home with him, do you?"

Cloud shook his head. "No, I don't mind. Reno can help me carry Kyle too, so don't worry about that."

"Thanks."

"Yeah, thanks." Zack spoke up. He and Cloud had taken a liking to each other, and Harry was pretty sure Kyle liked him too because the younger boy hadn't made any sarcastic remarks.

Reno was a different story, but Harry was going to try and ignore Reno's bad attitude right now.

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End chapter 9

Phew, this took me hours to write! And my neck hurts! (whines) besides that, I enjoyed myself and hope you do too.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Ten chapters already? Where has the time gone? Oh, and someone asked how old Cloud and Reno are- Cloud is 14/15 (he has a birthday somewhere…) and Reno is almost 18.

CHAPTER 10

The sun filtered weakly through his blinds, and Zack groaned, pulling the nearest sofa pillow over his head before sighing and half-sitting up to see the clock; it read 5:30 a.m. He blinked. Something had moved (by itself!) next to him, and suddenly someone's arm was curled around him and pulling him back down onto the couch.

"Don't get up- its cold."

The arm just talked!

"Um-"

"Hmm?"

"Harry?" Then he remembered last night, and shivered a little when he recalled how disturbing the movie had been and Harry's utter lack of reaction to the flying blood and guts while he sat there flinching like a little girl. He flushed when he remembered pulling Harry onto his lap and hiding his face between his shoulder-blades, and Harry laughing quietly at him while offering to turn it off. His pride had required him to endure it to its unrealistic end, and then he'd turned off the static-filled screen with a huge sigh of relief.

He didn't really remember anything else after that, other than thinking that his bed was too far away so he might as well sleep on the couch.

"Yeah?"

"Are you naked?"

Harry snickered. "No! What kind of question is that?"

"I, uh, no kind." Zack scratched the back of his neck, shrugging and trying to act normal even though Harry wasn't wearing a shirt. "I was just, you know, curious."

Harry smiled sleepily, rubbing the crust from his eyes. "That's lovely, Zack, but do you anything to eat around here? I don't think I can fall back asleep and I'm kind of hungry."

"I might have some bread for toast…" Zack trailed off as Harry wiggled out from under him, standing up and stretching before grabbing his rumpled shirt from the floor, tugging it over his head as he headed for the bathroom.

"That sounds good. I'll make us some toast once I finish in here."

Zack suddenly remembered the rules of being a host that his mother had drilled into his head with the assistance of a long-handled wooden spoon when he was a child, and said, "No, I'll do it since you're my guest."

Harry came out of the bathroom, eyebrows raised. "Zack, you've already put me up for the night, the least I can do is make you breakfast! And besides, judging from what I've seen so far, you might set your kitchen on fire." He winked to show he was joking and went into the kitchenette to try and dig the loaf of cheap bread out from under the mess of molding take-out.

Deciding that he could still salvage his manners, Zack got to work moving aside his collection of sports magazines, since he vaguely remembered leaving his toaster somewhere around here.

"I found the bread!"

"Great! Um, I can't find my toaster." God, he looked like such a loser!

"That's okay, I found it over here under the table." Harry held up the battered machine for demonstration. "Where can I plug it in?"

Zack eyed his fridge and Harry sighed. "You know what, how about we just eat the bread the way it is? It looks tasty."

Zack just looked at him. Half the loaf was molding, and the crust looked as hard as rock, and not in a good way.

"Fine, it looks kind of gross…you're going to have to let me clean out your fridge for you this Sunday or something."

"That would be…" an excuse to see him again without looking creepy! "really nice of you."

"Its no problem. After all, I'm going to make you help me and put the fear of dirt into you." Harry grinned, taking out a crust of the bread and biting into it. It almost hurt his teeth to watch.

Once he'd finished his bread and Zack had somehow drunk an entire carton of milk, Harry leaned over and kissed the corner of his mouth. "I gotta get going if I'm going to avoid three more months of hard scrubbing. See you Sunday!"

And just like that he was out the door and Zack was left in his kitchenette touching the part of his lips Harry's had touched and staring dreamily at his potatoes (which had spurted branches).

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Since he was feeling kind of confused around Harry but didn't know what to do about it since he still had absolutely no idea how serious Harry was, Zack did what he always did when he needed advice. He visited Aeris.

"Oh, hi Zack! Long time, no see." She winked, picking up her basket of gardening supplies and shutting the door to the cottage she shared with her mother Elmyra behind her. "Come on, I'm going to church and you might as well come along."

Walking down the street beside her, Zack put his hands behind his back and made sure to move closer to her when anyone especially shady came too close. She was too good of a friend for him to turn off his protective urges. His mother had always said he was meant to be the oldest of 20 children, which hadn't really made sense to him until he made friends outside of his village and discovered how possessive he really was.

"So what's on your mind? And yes, I am listening to you even though I don't look like I am." She mumbled the last part, digging through her basket and stepping over the ledge to the church.

"Well…there's this guy…"

"Is he cute?" Aeris asked causally, moving gracefully through her crowded flower patch and somehow avoiding crushing any of the blossoms under her brown boots. The blue watering can he'd gotten her for her birthday sloshed a little water over the edge every time she moved, and it was kind of hypnotizing.

Zack rested his arms on his knees, staring up at the sky through the hole in the roof, then blinked when somebody waved their hands in his face.

"Hey! Zack, are you okay? You kind of zoned out."

"Yeah…"

"Well, I don't really know anything yet, since you're being weird, but I say that if you haven't told this presumably attractive boy how you feel, you should. And soon, before somebody else does."

Zack suddenly sat up straighter. "Oh my god, that's right! That Reno bastard might make a move!"

Aeris blinked. "Um…right. Of course. That bastard Reno."

"Yeah! Sorry, Aeris, but I need to go plan what I'm going to say to him."

"Alright, good, but can I ask you something?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"What's his name?"

"Harry."

"And is he also in Shin-Ra?"

Zack looked down. "Yeah…"

She put her hands on her hips, recognizing the 'guilty school boy' look immediately. "And?"

Zack sighed heavily, and then mumbled, "He's a cadet."

"Sorry, I didn't catch that. He's a what?" Her voice rose on the last word, and he barely held back a flinch. This wasn't going to be good.

"He's a cadet."

"What?! How old is he?"

"Sixteen."

She crossed her arms. "Zack, you _do _remember the tiny detail about you being twenty years old and a First, right?" He nodded. "And do you remember the little rule about certain kinds of fraternization not being allowed within the grounds of the Shin-Ra building between superiors and those beneath their rank?"

"That was a lot to say in one breath." He pointed out, hoping that it would take her mind off of what they were talking about.

"I see what you doing." Dammit! "But I'm going to let it go because I think you really like this guy and I don't like you being alone."

"I'm not alone! Sephiroth still mothers me…"

"Zack, I have to admit that I'm not too fond of the mental image you just gave me. Well done."

They laughed, and he went back to his office half an hour after his lunch break officially ended, only to discover that some cadet had blown up an entire two classrooms when given a very weak practice Bolt Materia. The cadet's name was Harry Potter, and they still had no idea what had happened when he had touched the Materia.

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Lazard rubbed his forehead, staring down at the detailed report with a mixture of disbelief and awe. The only two things he could think about were how upset the Board was going to be next meeting when the price of repairing the destroyed instruction rooms (thank god no one had been injured) was brought up, and what idiot had let a defective Bolt Materia into the hands of an untrained cadet.

When Sephiroth showed up a few moments later to trade lunches with him, he dug into his wallet, custom-made in Wutai from Dragon's skin, and pulled out enough for two beers. "Here, you'll need the comfort."

"Ah, thanks Sephiroth."

"Don't mention it. Seriously. I have a reputation as a heartless bastard that I would like to keep preserved for as long as I endure being the head of an army."

"Yes sir!" Lazard grinned and saluted.

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End chapter 10

I will have a flashback to the Materia incident next chapter. Sorry this one is so short.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

"Alright, listen up!"

Harry signed his name at the bottom of his finished Tactics homework and put it away. The shuffling sound echoed in the silent instruction room and he cringed inside. He hated it when that happened!

"Now that we are all paying _close _attention, I am about to put a great responsibility into your hands. Literally. You have spent months studying the theory and history behind Materia, but today you are going to witness the wonders of magic first-hand. In a moment my assistant will arrive with a box of various low-level Materia, incapable of moving a rock or killing an ant just in case one of you is as incompetent as you look, and I will be passing them around. You will then practice-"

The door opened, and a thin man came in slowly, balancing a large trunk that glowed faintly from the slit between the lid and clasp.

"Ah, thank you. Now, I don't expect any miracles since this is your first time, but I want you to accustom yourself to the feel of it in your hand and try to get it to react to you. You may begin whenever you have one in your hand."

Harry waited until the instructor passed his desk and absently handed him a brown orb with a sheen to it that captured his gaze and held it. He turned it over in his hands, admiring it and then began 'calling' it.

Suddenly he felt something curl out of the Materia and then there was a sudden bright flash of light that blinded him, the loudest boom of thunder he'd ever heard, and then the students of two classrooms were staring at each other and the sky, surrounded by the ruins of a building.

Harry cleared his throat, carefully setting the smoking orb on the desk.

"Potter, what the _hell _did you do?!" His instructor screamed, stalking across the rubble-littered floor to loom over Harry.

"Um…nothing?"

"Nothing? NOTHING?! This Materia is fucking smoking! And I have never seen a Materia do that in my entire career, which has been going on since before any of you little shits were even born!" Some spittle flew out of his face and landed on Harry's cheek, but he resisted the urge to wipe it off lest it set off his teacher even more.

"I'm sorry?"

"You damn well better be!" He scratched his stubble absently, and then added in a low voice, "That was pretty impressive though."

Harry gave him the barest of smiles. "Thank you sir. Does this mean I need to report to the office for punishment?"

"No, because you're exempt from punishment while using Materia for the first time. Accidents have happened before, just not quite on this scale." Raising his voice and turning to look at the rest of the students, most of whom were nervously standing in protective groups or staring at their own Materia in horror, he barked, "Class dismissed! Treat this as a study hour, not a free period!"

"Yes sir!" Harry stood and saluted like the rest, grabbing his bag and making for the door.

"Oh, and Potter?"

He turned around. "Yes sir?"

"I will be seeing you later for a private chat, you hear me?"

"Er, yes sir." He left the room, or what remained of it, and made his way to his barracks to hopefully find some peace in which to do his homework. Shin-Ra did not provide study rooms because Soldiers were supposed to learn how to 'concentrate in any circumstances'.

"What a load of bullshit." Reno had said when he found out, continuing that the real reason there weren't any study halls was because the President was a stingy old man- a very fat man in the process of divorcing his fourth trophy wife, but a stingy bastard all the same.

Harry couldn't help but notice that he felt strangely relaxed, like he had been tensing his muscles to hold something inside but was no longer doing so.

Outside, one of the last sickly trees growing in a forgotten corner of the Upper Plate began to perk up a bit, its bark growing stiffer and leaves greener than they'd been since it was a sapling.

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Bouncing nervously from one foot to the other, Zack smiled at Loretta, Sephiroth's current secretary. She smiled back, dimples flashing, but looked back down at her work and continued writing a letter to some bigwig on the Board.

On an impulse, he sat down on one of the stiff waiting chairs and stared out the window, a glimpse of the sky visible through a gap in the building's construction. He would be sad when it was covered.

Something on Loretta's desk buzzed and she looked up at him with a smile. "He can see you now."

"Thanks!"

"No problem, Zack."

Stepping into Sephiroth's office was always like stepping into another sphere of existence for Zack, no matter how much he did it.

It was immaculate. No dust motes dared to float in the fluorescent lighting, and Zack had a funny feeling that Sephiroth would probably find some way to condense them into perfect piles of dirt to be recycled if they had. Sephiroth was just kind of weird like that.

"Hello, Fair. Have a seat." Sephiroth said this without taking his eyes off of the steadily decreasing stack of paperwork on his desk, his ballpoint pen moving swiftly across the signature lines once he had speed-read the assignment or request. "What do you need?"

Zack chose the comfier chair, the soft cushions embracing him. He still thought that the company had bought them especially to try and help people relax when meeting Sephiroth, despite the rarity of somehow getting a face-to-face interview with the General.

"Well? Zack, your silence leads me to believe that what you want is either inappropriate, unimportant, or illegal."

"I…well, Sephiroth, I would like your opinion on something."

Sephiroth looked up, tucking a thick strand of silver hair behind his ear. "Go on. I will answer to the best of my ability, you know that."

"Heh, it's just that this is something…personal. And you are usually good at seeing situations for what they really are and all that, so I thought that I should get your advice."

"…Okay." Sephiroth put down his pen, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands.

"It's about that guy you saw me, um, kissing in my office a while back."

Sephiroth wrinkled his nose, and then perked up. "Oh, yes, I remember now. What about him?"

"We're not officially involved, or at least I don't think we are, but I really, really want to be. However, there's this other guy who might have also made his interest clear, and he would be far more appropriate than me. Do you think I should tell him how I feel anyway or let him have a more normal relationship?"

Sephiroth just looked at him for a moment, then at his letter opener. Zack hoped he wasn't going to stab him with it or something.

"Can I ask why you would be inappropriate for him to become involved with?"

He was hoping that wouldn't come up, but gathered his courage. Sephiroth could be very unpredictable, so who knew? He might be fine with this. "He's a cadet."

"What? I thought he was on the cleaning staff!"

Zack choked, laughing. "Why did you think that?"

"Because he was wearing their uniform and accompanied by one of their carts by which they transport their equipment. It seemed a logical conclusion. Oh, and you're not allowed to date cadets because it's unprofessional and may come across as favoritism to the other cadets."

"Goddammit!"

"Please don't curse in my office. I never know what you're damning and it makes me slightly uncomfortable."

Zack couldn't help himself and snickered, raising a hand to try and muffle it. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

"Judging from what I witnessed in the temples of Wutai, fearing the Gods is a perfectly legitimate activity. You would do well to do the same. And you really should leave that poor cadet or janitor or whatever-he-is alone. He looked a bit young."

"I'm young too!" Zack protested, cringing at how much of a kid he sounded like a moment later.

"I can tell that your hormones are still controlling your mental capacities, yes."

"Gah, Sephiroth, can we get away from the fact that he's young and a cadet, and just consider his happiness? Please?"

"You really want my candid opinion?"

"Yes!"

"Then I say go for it."

Zack blinked. "I…really?"

"Yes. I don't think you are the sort of person who ought to be out of a personal relationship for even the duration of one week, and from what little I saw of him he seemed to be a considerate and modest young man. Perhaps you could wait until he's 18?"

"Two whole years?" Zack whined.

"He's sixteen?"

"Uh-huh."

Sephiroth put his head in his hands. "I give up. Do whatever you're going to do- and if anyone asks me about it, I'll say I had no idea. Oh, and say hello to him for me. I suppose we'll be running into each other again sometime if you can successfully woo him."

Zack cracked up at the word 'woo' and was therefore only able to nod jerkily. "Thanks, Seph."

"Don't call me that. I hate it when you call me that."

"Why?"

"Because it makes me sound like a child's plaything rather than the killing menace I am proud to be."

"Oh, shut up. For the last time, you are not a menace!"

Sephiroth muttered something in Wutain under his breath, probably curse words, and Zack left with a grin on his face. Knowing that Sephiroth approved of Harry put everything into a brighter focus. Now if only he could think of a proper way to ask Harry to let him devote himself to him as a loyal slave.

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End chapter 11

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!

Now will somebody please tell me what the hell happened to 2008?


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

Harry stood outside the door to Zack's complex, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, his plastic bag of cleaning supplies slowly digging ridges into his fingers.

Hearing rapid steps on the pavement, he looked up. He was hoping it was Zack, because he'd come a little earlier than planned for cleaning and his feet were starting to hurt. It wasn't him; it was another guy with blonde hair (although not as yellow as Cloud's) and wearing the uniform of a Second Class Soldier. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Harry, and stopped.

"Hey. Do you want something, kid?"

"Oh, I'm just waiting for someone. Thanks for asking." Harry smiled politely, not liking the way the blonde was looking at him. It was making unpleasant shudders go down his spine.

"Really? Who?"

"Just a friend. I'm going to help him sort out the mess in his apartment."

"Heh, I think we all could use a little help with that. Are you part of a cleaning service or something?" The blonde came closer, leaning against the concrete wall next to Harry. Harry shifted awkwardly, but decided that he might as well be friendly because this guy hadn't done anything too strange yet.

"No, I just offered and he said okay. He's buying me lunch in exchange." He tucked a curl that'd worked its way out of his short ponytail behind his ear, not noticing the hungry look he was getting.

"If I pay you, will you clean my apartment some other day?"

Harry hesitated. On the one hand, a little extra money could never hurt, and on the other he really didn't know how safe it would be for him to be alone in an apartment with a strange man equipped with superhuman strength.

"I, well, I don't really know you so I don't know if that would be okay. No offense or anything."

"What id you do get to know me first? How about that?"

Harry shrugged, blushing and not really knowing why. People usually didn't pursue him for something this simple, which he supposed should be a warning sign. "I-"

"My name's Jared. You are?" He offered his hand to shake, smiling and looking so friendly that Harry couldn't help but shake his hand, smiling back.

"I'm Harry."

"Cool. So…are you in Soldier or the Infantry or just visiting the compound?"

"I'm a cadet." Jared's eyebrows rose. "I just arrived here a few months ago and I really like it so far."

"Yeah? I'm glad to hear it. The instructors are real assholes in the cadet program, though. Are you holding up?"

Harry shrugged, not wanting to bash his officers in front of a Second Class.

"I see." There was a hint of a smirk in his voice, and Harry began swinging his bag from one hand to the next, the chemicals sloshing in their bottles and drowning out the background noise generated by the whistling wind.

"So, um, what's it like being a Soldier?"

"It's great! The food is good, I have friends I would die for, and the General has always taken great care of us."

"That reminds me!" Harry perked up. "This has been bothering me for a while, but nobody seems to know the answer to this. Why does Shin-Ra only have one General? Why not two, or three?"

Jared blinked. "I…honestly, that never occurred to me before. I mean, what if the General dies or something? Not that that's likely, mind you, but he's bound to get old one of these days or want to retire."

"So you don't know?"

"No, sorry."

"Damn."

"Yeah-"

"Harry?" Zack's voice cut Jared off, and Harry noticed how Jared suddenly stood up a little straighter.

"I'm over here!"

"Hi!"

Harry laughed. "Hi. This is Jared, by the way. He was nice enough to keep me company while I waited."

"Whoa, waited? I'm early!"

Harry noticed the narrow-eyed look Zack was shooting Jared, and began to fidget. He hoped Jared wasn't some kind of rival, since he still didn't know Zack well enough to know that he would be okay with him talking to other Soldiers.

"Yeah, I know I came a little early, but my class ended early and I didn't have anywhere else to go." He shrugged. "So voila!"

"Indeed. Well, you can come and help me become a 'better man' now."

"Or at least a neat one. Let's not aim too high-"

Zack smacked him upside the head. "Hey! Watch that mouth of yours."

"Oh, I will. Bye, Jared! It was nice meeting you!"

Jared nodded tersely, and Harry cringed inside. For some reason he had felt really strange around Jared, and now he was worried that he had offended him or something. Zack seemed a little off too, jumpier somehow.

Maybe someone had slipped him coffee?

Stepping inside the apartment, Harry groaned at the sight of everything that he would be cleaning. Sure, Zack would be helping, but this was enough for an entire army.

"Um, Harry?"

"Hm?" He acknowledged walking into the kitchenette where he remembered there being an open space of counter where he could perhaps unload his supplies. He was glad he had bought the 'extra strength' kind.

"Can I…tell you something?"

"Huh? Oh, sure. What is it?"

Zack hesitated, then gently put his hands on Harry's upper arms from behind. He didn't know if he could say this in a normal voice, so he whispered, "I really like you and want to…"

"What?" Harry tensed up. Oh god, had he completely misjudged Zack? Was he about to be raped?!

"Will you go out with me? Like, as boyfriends?"

Harry relaxed, then what Zack had asked processed and he choked.

Taking his silence and then that abrupt noise for rejection, Zack backed off and started stuttering apologies.

"I mean, I'm not trying to be a jerk and-"

"Sure."

"Huh?" Zack blinked.

"I said sure, meaning that I want to date you too. I didn't know we were supposed to ask, though. I thought we already were." He laughed, poked Zack's nose, and went back to unpacking his supplies. "Just because you're being all romantic doesn't mean you don't have to help, though. Here, take this trash bag and start working on your bedroom. I'll deal with the living area."

"Gee, thanks. I feel _so _appreciated."

Rolling his eyes, Harry stood on his toes and kissed Zack for a solid half-minute. "How about now? Do you still feel," he ran a finger down his cheek, smirking, "unappreciated?"

Zack merely shook his head, heading for his room and wishing that he could take Harry in there with him. Gyargh! He was already turning into a pervert!

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Two hours later, the trash was mostly cleared and Harry had set aside a pile of things he wasn't sure about. He would hate himself if he threw away something that Zack was emotionally attached to.

"Hey, Zack?"

"Yeah?" he came out of his room, an old scarf his mother had packed with him when he'd finally convinced her that he was joining Shin-Ra with or without her approval wrapped around his neck. He'd forgotten how much he liked it.

"I've got some stuff in there that I put aside for you to go through. I'm going to scrub your bathroom now."

"Sounds great! I've started to feel dirtier after a shower than before, which I'm pretty sure isn't normal…"

"Trust me, it isn't." Harry winked and wandered off to wear his fingers to the bone scrubbing the grime off the tub.

On his hands and knees in the bathroom, he blessed whoever had made the chemicals currently clogging his lungs, not noticing Zack come tiptoeing in behind him, a wide grin on his face. Knowing that Harry was his (officially, at least) somehow made him feel that much more open about pranking Harry. Arm raised high, he made sure to hold the glass directly above his head, and then tilted it so a thin stream of water poured out onto Harry's head.

As expected, Harry screeched and attacked him.

"Zack, that was uncalled for!" He was laughing, though, and didn't protest being pined wrestling style to the tiled floor since it was clean now.

Zack spared a glance at his bathroom and nearly fainted. It hadn't looked like this since the first day he'd moved in!

"Harry, don't be freaked out, but you're my hero."

"You have a strange concept of heroics, then."

"Strange in a good way."

"Whatever you say." He smoothed Zack's hair back, smiling.

"Hey, that rhymed!"

"God, you're so immature."

Zack blinked. "You say that like it's a bad thing. Oh, and Sephiroth says hello."

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End chapter 12

I have a legitimate excuse for it being this short! I had people at my house and had to be offline, so I didn't have enough time to write. Anyways, at least it's an update.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Sephiroth paced his office, careful to keep his footsteps silent lest Loretta send for one of the irritating medics to shoot him up with anti-depressants. Pausing by his bookshelf filled with tactics manuals that he'd long ago memorized, he rubbed a hand over his eyes. He'd left work earlier than two o'clock for once last night, but he'd been unable to sleep. He had absolutely no intention of mentioning it to Hojo, however, since his excuse would be preposterous and only get him laughed at.

He had heard a voice whispering to him- a woman's voice. She had said she was his mother, and that he was being betrayed, but she was too quiet for him to hear the rest, like she was far away.

Was he going mad?

He shook his head. No! of course not; that would be like losing a battle, which hadn't happened to date and probably never would, especially with the advancements Hojo had been making in Mako enhancement. The latest 'prototype' could shape a block of titanium like soft clay into any shape he favored.

"Sir?" Loretta poked her head in his door, smiling somewhat nervously as she always did around him. He was privately impressed that she was as professional and consistent in her behavior, since all of his previous secretaries had either had nervous breakdowns or tried to seduce him.

"Yes, what can I help you with?"

"Well, the Lazard wants to see you about that Materia incident. He has the cadet responsible with him for you to interview."

He resisted the urge to blink. "But I never requested to meet the boy."

"Yes, well, the president wants more details. He believes that it this may be the key to opening new areas of battle magic."

"Oh. Well…I'd better not keep them waiting. Thank you."

"No problem, sir." She closed the door behind him as he left, making that his cuffs were buttoned. He had a habit of undoing them in private, since he didn't like the pressure they put on his wrists (they reminded him of the bands he used to wear when living in Hojo's labs), and it would be embarrassing to be seen as anything other than perfectly put together in public.

He had to admit, though, he _was _curious to see who had managed to blow up two buildings their first time handling Materia.

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Harry was feeling very nervous. He had been unexpectedly taken out of morning training, and was still wearing his nondescript gray sweats (with the red Shin-Ra logo on the left breast, of course). His sweaty hair stuck to his neck, and it itched now that it had dried, pulling at his skin.

He scratched his scalp, stopping immediately when the slender blonde guy in a purple suit raised his eyebrows. The guy's name was Lazard, and apparently he was the Director of the Soldier Program, which was pretty intimidating to think about.

"So…what did you do?"

"Hm?" The man's smooth voice had startled him. He'd never heard someone who sounded like that before. "What do you mean?"

"I mean with the Materia. Did you change the spell? Hold it differently than you've been taught?"

"Er…I actually didn't do anything. I just picked it up and I was trying to remember which spell we used for Bolt, and then suddenly there was a lot of electricity and I was surrounded by rubble." He shrugged. "I wish I knew what I did, so I can prevent it from happening again. I don't want to get kicked out of the cadet program- I really like it here and would like to make it to Soldier."

"It's a pity you don't remember."

"No, sir, I do remember-"

The door opened almost silently, but Harry felt the change in air movement and looked up to see General Sephiroth step inside, dressed in a simple suit obviously made from fabric so expensive Harry could live on it for years.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, Lazard, but apparently the President wants a detailed report on this young man and he wants me to assist you."

"No, no, you're not disturbing in the least. This is Cadet Potter."

"Sir!" Harry gave his best salute, wincing when the sweat on his skin pulled taut. He hoped that didn't come too close, since he smelled a little rank.

Sephiroth nodded, hiding his surprise. What a coincidence that Zack's Harry was the same one causing so much excitement in the upper offices. "Cadet."

"So…I have the Bolt Materia you used, and I'd like you to come outside with me, away from buildings, and we'll have you try again." Lazard produced the now-gray orb from a drawer on his desk, pocketed it, and made for the door.

Harry ended up sandwiched between the two of them in the elevator, and was too nervous to look anywhere but the worn carpet. Someone had tracked mud onto it.

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Stepping outside on a side of the Plate he didn't know existed, Harry followed his superiors to the spot farthest from every upstanding object, and was left alone.

"Okay, touch the Materia!" Lazard shouted from a couple hundred feet away, subtly moving behind Sephiroth.

Cautiously, he reached towards the Materia Lazard had set on the concrete, palming it and lifting it up. He began rubbing it like he had been trained, and reached into his memory for the spell.

It began to warm up, and then suddenly there were colored flashes behind his eyes like when he stared into the sun as a child working in the garden at the Dursleys. Blinking to clear them away, he gaped when he saw a…a…web of lightning surrounding him. It resembled a web vaguely, and continued to flash and throb out of the Materia.

It was getting hotter, and he had to force himself to keep holding onto it. Letting go might make him look like a coward, and he refused to become one.

Across the compound, Sephiroth had to clench his jaw to keep it on his face. Lazard wasn't so fortunate, not that anyone would know since he was conveniently standing behind Sephiroth. He was almost positive that Sephiroth could somehow block any blast that might occur.

Finally, when Harry could smell his skin burning and taste the blood from biting through his lip, he dropped it. Instead of bouncing as Materia would have, it shattered like an egg and the pieces dissolved into smoke. Harry held his injured hand close to himself, staring down at the patterns of the lightning burnt into the concrete in the shape of a crude star.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up to see them coming closer and pulled his hand closer. This hadn't happened last time, although the feeling of release was again making his soul soar. He felt like he could just float off the floor, and maybe he would have in his own world, if he didn't have the pain of his burnt skin to ground him. He was afraid to look at it, afraid to see how badly he had damaged himself.

"That was incredible! What spell did you use?"

Harry held back a groan. What was with this Lazard guy and thinking that everything he did had to be from a spell? It was probably just his latent magic overjoyed at finding an outlet, now that he thought about it. Nothing special, just something he could never tell anyone on pain of being locked up as a lunatic. "No spell, sir. I just picked it up, and then it started getting warm."

Sephiroth suddenly noticed the way he was holding his arm and asked, "Did you hurt your hand?"

"Ah, I'm sure it's not serious-"

"Don't lie to me, cadet. I can smell the burnt skin from here."

Harry hung his head.

"There's no need to be so depressed. Here, give me your hand and we'll see if a Cure can fix it." Not waiting for Harry to concede, he gently grasped his forearm, his fingers wrapping all the way around it with length to spare. With his other hand he dug into his pocket, where he always kept both a Mastered Cure and Mastered Attack, just in case he was attacked randomly.

Harry looked away when Sephiroth began unfolding his fingers, catching a flash of singed skin surrounding bright red welts.

"Cure 2!"

Instead of curling out as a Cure normally did and spreading over the skin like water, it seemed to explode as soon as it touched his flesh and worked itself viciously under his skin. Harry cried out, the freezing sensation both painful and euphoric. It was exactly the same feeling he'd had the first time he cast a Patronus.

Sephiroth's head snapped up from where he had been examining the peculiar patterns the magic was making. "Does it hurt?"

Harry gritted his teeth and shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. Some blood from his cut lip dribbled down his chin and onto his sweatshirt, soaking through and making the fabric stick to his chest in some spots.

"You bit your lip too-"

But the magic had already climbed up his arm, around his neck, and set to work repairing his lip. When the green faded completely, Harry flexed his fingers carefully and grinned when he didn't feel anything other than a dull ache in the tips.

"Thank you." Sephiroth nodded. "Was that helpful, sir?" He asked Lazard, praying that it was so they wouldn't be pulling him out of classes in the future. He didn't want to fall behind, since that would be very embarrassing and then Reno would tease him mercilessly about his 'fall from glory'.

"A bit, yes. I think it would be best if you stayed away from Materia demonstrations, though, for the sake of the company property. I'd hate to see what you could do to a building with a spell like that one, and my apologies regarding the injury of your hand. Was that caused by the heat from the Materia or something else?"

"Just the Materia, sir. I was holding it for a much longer time today than I did in class."

"Why didn't you let go when it started to burn, you foolish child?"

Harry almost snarled. If there was one thing that pissed him off, it was being called a child. However, attacking superiors was _not _allowed. "Because you wanted me to demonstrate a Bolt Materia, sir. I was following orders."

Lazard opened his mouth, but Sephiroth laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Your perseverance is admirable, Potter. As fascinating as this all is, I have an office full of paperwork awaiting me and I need to write a report on this, so I am afraid I must leave you now. Lazard, will you help Potter find his way back to the training areas?"

Lazard nodded, looking far more relaxed and less likely to scold now.

"Then good day and good bye to the both of you." He walked away, head held high and back straighter than a board. Harry watched him go for lack of anywhere else to look, missing the calculating stare Lazard had fixed on him.

Maybe not telling Zack about injuring himself with Materia would be a good idea, since his boyfriend might freak out and complain to somebody really important like the President, which would be a bad thing all around.

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End chapter 13

Yes! Despite paperwork (a.k.a. the forces of EVIL) and homework and housework, I managed to write an update! If this isn't an empowerment moment in my pathetic little life, nothing is.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

Sweat stung at the corners of his eyes as he finished his last push-up of the final set of 50. No matter how long they had been doing it, he always felt drained of every drop of energy by the time they were finished, although he wasn't nearly as bad off as Cloud, who was breathing shallowly beside him on the mat, obviously unable to rise from his prostrate position even if his life depended on it.

"You-" gasp, "okay, Cloud?"

Cloud nodded, breathing with his mouth as open as his dry lips would let him. Muscles screaming at him, Harry grabbed his water bottle, unscrewed it with shaking fingers, and passed it to Cloud.

"Drink some of this; it'll make you feel better."

Cloud took a sip and then gulped down half the bottle in one go, and swallowed tightly. "Thanks. I needed that."

"I could tell."

"God, I know they haven't made these exercises any longer, but it sure as hell feels like it!" Reno whined from his place lying on Harry's other side. Somehow, Harry consistently ended up between the two of them during drills, which was why he was always happy to walk into the lunch hall late and see them talking to each other, usually with Kyle somewhere near chewing on a spoon. And speaking of Kyle, he craned his neck to see him over Reno, for once not looking like he had fully functional jet engines attached to him.

"You okay over there Kyle? You actually look kind of tired."

Instead of answering Harry's sarcastic question, he raised one finger. Reno broke out laughing, and would have been kicked by the instructor currently looking through his manual if he had been closer.

Sighing, Harry turned his eyes to the ceiling. They were technically free to go and take a shower or something before their last class of the day, which was only a half-hour review of what they had learned that day, but most cadets spent their free time trying to catch their breath.

Harry wondered what Zack was doing, stiffly sitting up and then standing to head for the racks where cadets stowed their bags during training. He wanted a shower.

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On the eighth floor, Zack chewed on his third pen of the day, sharp teeth mangling the cheap plastic into useless shapes. The sharp taste of ink was on his tongue, worse than the glue they use to seal envelopes, but he was too worked up to stop.

Tomorrow night, he was taking Harry to the Lower Plate to have dinner at Aeris' house. Elmyra still didn't like him very much, but she didn't mind him nearly as much now that he was no longer dating her adopted daughter. He pitied the man who came by with marriage on the mind, since he'd find a blood-thirsty old lady with a broom standing between them.

Normally he was calm about introducing two of his friends to each other, but this was a special situation since both Harry and Aeris were ridiculously close to his heart and he would just die inside if they didn't like each other. He was sure that they would be polite to one another, since Aeris was possibly the nicest person to ever walk the Planet and Harry was very well-behaved, but he wanted them to really like each other (not too much though, because Harry was _his _and nobody else's).

Someone knocked on his door and he looked up, calling, "Come in!"

Rufus Shin-Ra, Vice-President through the handy practice of nepotism despite being underage, stepped inside and headed straight for his window, reaching up to open it while simultaneously reaching into his pocket.

He pulled out a metal case of cigarettes and matching lighter, pulling out a white stick and placing it between his lips before lighting up.

Smirking, Zack stage-whispered, "You're welcome, Rufus."

The blonde grunted, sitting casually in the visitor's chair, his white suit rumpling as the teenager shifted into a comfortable position.

"You haven't visited me in so long I was starting to hope that you had quit, you know." Zack said conversationally, taking the pen out of his mouth and tossed it into his trash can. "What's up? You look more pissy than usual."

"Oh, be quiet." Rufus laughed softly, exhaling smoke out of his nose. "I've just been really busy lately and didn't have any time to smoke during the day. I think I went through half a pack every night before bed, though."

"Has dear old dad noticed your private 'nicotine fund' yet?"

Rufus laughed, which was probably the first time he really had in weeks. "No, all is still quiet on the Western front." He flicked some ash into an ash tray Zack produced out of his front drawer. "Oh, and I heard from the security guards down at the box while doing a check that you were getting mighty friendly with a staff member on the night shift."

"I…what?!"

"Yeah. He was pretty cute too, although I thought you were still dating that girl from the slums."

"I-I-"

Rufus sighed. "You forgot about the cameras again, didn't you?" It wasn't a question.

"Uh, just a little bit?"

"God, why are you trying to keep it a secret anyway? The whole company would find out anyway, thanks to the oh-so-lovely gossip network otherwise known as our secretaries." He leaned forward conspiratorially, "They see everything."

"Thanks for the reminder, Rufus."

"No problem. So what's the kid's name?"

"Kid?" maybe if he acted oblivious, Rufus would get irritated and drop the subject. He didn't know Rufus as well as he would have liked, and therefore wasn't sure how he would react to Harry being so young.

"Don't play dumb with me, Fair. We both know that that kid couldn't possibly be older than me, so quit trying to cover your ass. What's his name?"

"Harry."

"Hm, I've never heard that one before."

"Me neither, but he's from the Crater so maybe they have weird names up there or something?"

Rufus nodded, chewing on his cheek. "That's probable. So are you two together or can I still flirt with you when I'm drunk without fear to scandalize my father?"

Zack grinned, remembering the waves they'd made at the last winter gala. That had been fun, although he drank so much that he didn't remember half of what had happened, or the events that led him to wake up in Rufus' posh apartment wrapped around him.

"Sorry, we're pretty dedicated to each other. Maybe you could try to convince Tseng again?"

"Nah, I asked him yesterday while we were in the coffee room and he totally gave me the cold shoulder."

"Dammit!"

"Damn him, more like." He stubbed out his cigarette and reached into his jacket for another. He offered the case to Zack. "Do you want one?"

"Nah, I quit and don't want to have to pay for them again. There's no need to be so prickly about Tseng. Who knows? If you drink enough, you might be able to goof around with Scarlet without vomiting."

Rufus stared at him in disgust. "You sick bastard! As if I could ever feel an inkling of attraction to that bitch!"

"This is true. My apologies for that mental image currently torturing you."

"Did you just read my mind?"

"No, I've just had a similar experience."

"Ah." He took a longer drag than usual, and sighed happily. "Sweet nicotine at last. Trust me; you have no idea what I went through this morning."

"What do you mean?"

"Some poor cadet has a 'reaction' to Materia, and I don't whether I should dismiss him or put him in the Special Forces because he could be like a walking bomb, from what I've gathered from Sephiroth's report."

"Are you asking for my opinion or just complaining like the rich boy you are?"

Rufus gave him a very unimpressed look. "Oh, don't be immature. And if you want to give an opinion, by all means do so. Lord knows that trying to make you keep your mouth shut is more than a little fruitless."

"Firstly, I resent that, and secondly I think that we should see how this cadet does on the entrance exams and determine where we could best use him from there."

Rufus rubbed his chin. "That's a good idea."

"Thank you."

"Don't let it go to your head."

"Oh shut up. My ego isn't-"

"In need of feeding right now, I understand. I'll come back later." He winked, snickering when Zack childishly threw a pen at him.

"Is this any way to speak to your host?"

"I would be most ashamed if I did not, in fact, own this office, which makes _you _the guest."

Zack shook his head, eyes narrowed. "I hate you sooo much."

"Good, you should, because I just might decide to spy on you and your little boyfriend via the security videos. Wouldn't you enjoy that?"

"Hmph. There aren't any cameras in my apartment, so good luck to you."

"Heh heh…are you sure about that?"

Zack sat up straighter. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. Thanks for letting me use your office as a smoking room, and say hi to that boyfriend of yours for me, will you?"

"Wait-"

"Bye now."

The shut silently behind Rufus, and Zack let his head drop onto his desk with a 'thud'.

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"Rufus says hi."

"Who?" Harry looked up from his homework, kicking his feet back and forth. He lay on his stomach on the clean carpet of Zack's apartment, and it felt nice against his skin where his shirt had ridden up.

"Rufus Shin-Ra. He saw us kissing on the security cameras and wanted to say hello."

"Oh, alright. Is he a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, he's the President's only legitimate child and also the Vice-President. How did you not…you know…know this?" normally he wouldn't have asked such a ridiculous question, but lately he had been noticing strange gaps in Harry's knowledge, and they were usually obvious details of popular culture. It was kind of suspicious.

Harry giggled, covered his mouth when he heard how girly he sounded, and replied, "Jeez, forgive me my fiendish ignorance of that drastically important detail. Come on, Zack, you know that we don't really know this kind of stuff where I'm from."

"Well, what kind of stuff do you know up by the Crater?"

"I know how to make a shelter in a snow storm, how to never get frostbite, how to fix anything if I really need to, how to take care of the few plants we can get to grow inside, how to work as hard as I have to and for as long as it takes, and how to live off of what little we have." He made a crutch for his chin with his hands, tilting his head to the side. "What do they teach you in Gongaga, country boy?"

"Okay, okay, I surrender. And I'm sorry for calling you ignorant."

"You didn't, but you're forgiven anyway." Harry smiled and went back to his work. It was late at night and he had gone home with Zack after cleaning his office, and he really wanted to get this done even though it wasn't due for a while. He hadn't been like this at Hogwarts, but now he knew to take advantage of the times when he wasn't exhausted to do simpler tasks that he couldn't do when ready to pass out on his feet.

Zack got off the couch, crossed the space separating them, and sat cross-legged on the floor next to Harry. Even though Harry had said he forgave him, he still wanted to do something for him.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm actually almost done, hon." He briefly rested his cheek against Zack's knee before going back to busily filling the answers into his chapter quiz.

Zack leaned over Harry's shoulder, peering down at his answers and surprised that he was getting them right if he remembered correctly. He immediately felt guilty for expecting anything less. Harry was very smart, and had proven himself to have far more common sense than Zack could ever hope to have.

"I love you."

"Hmm…I love you too, but can you please wait like three seconds for me to finish this?"

Zack sighed dramatically but remained silent for as long as he could, smoothing his palms down the curve of Harry's spine.

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End chapter 14

Ha! I had time to write a 'full length' chapter today (tonight). Enjoy!


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

"So you love him?"

"Yep." Zack took a sip of his coffee, choking when he realized he got the dregs of the pot again. Goddamn Turks probably came into the Soldier break room again and stole their coffee for the hell of it. Sephiroth rarely came in here, since he could get Loretta to bring him anything he needed, but sometimes he said his office made him feel kind of claustrophobic, so a convenient way to get out of it was to go to the break room.

"Does he know?"

"Yeah, I told him when he was studying and he didn't freak out or anything. In fact, he said it back like it wasn't a big deal."

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows. "I'm no expert in the disease known as love to you mortals, but maybe he didn't know what kind of love you were expressing."

Zack looked down. That had occurred to him last night, Harry curled into a little ball on his side of the bed and breathing softly in his sleep, that maybe Harry didn't know how much he meant to him.

Oh well. He'd think about it later, after he saw how well he and Aeris got along tonight.

"Yeah. I'll give him some love-speech, when I think of how to put it into words." He laughed to hide how upset he was starting to feel, but he could tell Sephiroth knew anyway.

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Harry glared death into a strange brown stain (ugh!) on the bathroom floor of the seventh floor. He had been scrubbing it for half an hour solid before he gave it a rest to clean the rest of his floors, and then heading back after peeling a clinging Zack off of him to try and get rid of it. After all, someone would probably file a complaint if they saw it since it both looked and smelled suspiciously like dried feces, but was as hard as a rock.

He heard someone come to stand in the doorway, and said, "Oh, don't mind me. The bathroom is still available."

"Well, thank you, but I was wondering if the busy little person _cleaning _aforesaid bathroom had some time to come to dinner."

Looking up, Harry smiled at Zack. "Okay, but just give me one more minute on this-"

"Oh, that thing?" He pointed at the evil brown patch.

"Yeah, it's evil. I just noticed it tonight and have been trying to get it off ever since. Who knows how long it's been here."

"Three years and 4 months."

Harry looked up again, pausing. "How would you know?"

"Because, eh heh, me and this other guy made that by accident when we came in here to see what would happen if we mixed a Burn and a Bolt and used it on rubber."

Against his will, since he really should be upset about bruising his fingers trying to remove the impossible, Harry burst out laughing. "Oh my god, are you retarded or something?"

"I am not! I was just, you know, curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat, babes. And now that you have utterly shattered my life's purpose of removing this stain, I can change out of my rags and come to dinner."

"Alright!"

"Well, hold up! Don't rush me!" Harry laughed, tucking his supplies into their places on the cart and began to push it towards the elevator.

"Okay, I'll try to stop acting so pushy but I am just so excited!"

Harry looked over at him, taking in the way Zack seemed to float in place. "This girl really means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

He nodded. "Yeah. She's been there for me through thick and thin for as long as I've known her, and she kept me from floating away into darkness when I was going through a really thin patch."

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

The elevator doors opened, and Harry pushed his cart inside.

Zack bit his lip, stepping inside the elevator once Harry had put his cart as far to the side as it would go so there was enough room for the both of them. Pressed beside his boyfriend, the first person he could honestly say that he was in love with since the immature relationship he'd had back in Gongaga when he was twelve with a girl named Natalie, he decided that he should feel free to confide in him.

"I…I had a mentor who trained me as a Soldier, and I guess you could say he was more of a father figure than a teacher. Either way, I lived with him in his apartment so he could teach me all the time and attack me when I passed out in bed since he had this demented concept of-"

"Constant vigilance?"

"Uh…yeah, actually. How did you know?"

"Lucky guess."

"Right…moving on. We were very close, and then some classified stuff happened that I'm not allowed to tell you lest I get fired, but the end result was that he died."

Harry winced in sympathy, placing his palm flat over Zack's beating heart. "And you didn't take it well?"

He bit his lip and shook his head. "I'd never lost someone before him, not even my grandparents, and I guess that I wasn't expecting it to hurt as much as it did. I even cried…a lot."

"Crying is nothing to be ashamed of, Zack. In fact, it's probably good that you cried for him, or else you never would have moved on." He kissed him, doing his best to make it as gentle as a bumpy elevator would permit. "Are you going to tell me his name?"

"Angeal Hewley, but don't tell anyone I told you."

"Who would I tell? Cloud wouldn't care and Reno would just find something else to look up a few weeks later. Is your friend going to be upset that we're having dinner at 9 o'clock?"

"No, she likes late dinners anyway so we're fine."

"Good." Harry pushed his cart out as the elevator came to a stop, heading down the hall between the storage rooms until he came to the one cleaning supplies were kept in. setting his cart in its place, he pulled off his cleaning shirt and folded it before smoothing the plain t-shirt he was wearing underneath. Zack had told him that he didn't have to dress up, but he still picked the least-damaged of his shirts without a Shin-Ra logo on it. They were going below the Plate, after all, and he didn't want to get mobbed or something equally horrendous.

"Are you trying to show me up?"

"What do you mean?" Harry looked up at him, standing close despite there being no cleaning cart forcing them to.

"You look very nice."

"Thank you, baby." He kissed his cheek, smiling and stepping away now that the elevator came to a stop.

0000000

The trip to Aeris' house via public transportation was interesting. The only available seats on the train were splattered with still-wet substances that Harry didn't have the luxury of Vanishing with magic. Speaking of which, he really needed to tell Zack about the Materia fiasco.

Walking down the dark streets lit only by the neon signs advertising everything from beer to every kind of food that could be freeze-dried or shot with something similar to MSG, Harry stayed close to Zack for the sake of his boyfriend's nerves, which were looking a little ragged.

"Hey-"

"What's wrong?" Zack's eyes were wide and he looked kind of manic. Resisting the urge to laugh, Harry said,

"Hey, I just wanted to tell you to calm down a little. Nobody's gonna bother us; have you seen how intimidating you can be when you're snarling like that?"

"Snarling like what?" His voice came out weird because he was baring his teeth. Harry grinned back.

"I don't think my teeth can quite compare to those fangs you're flashing, honey."

"What? Oh, and this is the house." He pointed straight ahead at a very out-of-place looking cottage with a garden in the front. Harry took in the sight of the fresh flowers growing amongst the littered soda cans, beer bottles, and cigarette stubs, amused at the irony.

"It's gorgeous. I haven't seen flowers in person…um…ever. God, that's depressing."

Zack looked over at him after knocking. "Are you serious? Oh, that's right- there aren't any flowers up by the Crater and you've been in the Complex. Harry, that is so sad."

"Is it?" Harry asked vaguely, staring over his shoulder at the flowers glowing faintly in the smoky night air.

The door opened, one half of a tetchy old lady's face peeking out at them around the door. "Oh, it's _you_. And you've brought a friend."

"Uh, yes, Elmyra, and it's lovely to see you again. You're looking well; did you quit smoking?"

"What the hell kind of question is that, you little punk?"

"I don't know, you tell me-" He started getting into her personal space, using his height to loom over her and a fight probably would have broken out now that she opened the door all the way if Harry hadn't suddenly wrapped his finger through Zack's back belt loop.

"Hey, can we come inside? I thought there was someone named Aeris here who I'm supposed to meet." He gave her his best smile, peeking around his boyfriend.

"Oh, and who are you, cutie? Come inside and have some food!"

Zack gaped, but obediently followed Harry's slightly swaying hips into the house, mesmerized. He didn't usually get a chance to walk behind the cadet, but whenever he did he wished he did it more often.

"Hi!" Aeris came out of the kitchen, a white frilly apron over her pink dress and soap suds on her forearms. "You must be Harry. I've heard so much about you!"

"Good or bad?" He grinned, accepting her hug. She embraced him with her elbows so she wouldn't get soap on him, moving on to do the same to Zack.

"All good things, of course. Now come into the kitchen- I need some help with the salad. Not you, mom! Go sit down and put your feet up like the doctor told you. I don't want them swelling again."

"Yeah, yeah. I remember the days when young people had something called respect…" still muttering to herself, she walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the sofa, flicking on the TV to some vapid talk show airing in Mideel.

Making himself at home next to the cutting board, Harry started chopping the tomatoes into equal pieces and smacking away Zack's hands whenever he tried to snitch one.

"So how did you two meet?" Aeris asked, pulling the stew off the stove and setting it on the cabinet nearest to the flimsy card table set with disposable plates and cups.

"In a bar." Harry chirped, setting the salad bowl beside the stew.

Aeris choked on the spoon she was using to taste the stew, giggling. "I thought you stopped drinking, Zack."

"Hey, I hadn't been in a while and I was upset! I went by myself!"

"But you didn't leave by yourself." She winked, calling for her mother.

"Hush, you."

0000000

Several hours later, at half-past twelve, Harry lolled against Zack's shoulder on the floor of the living room in Aeris' house; Aeris curled against his other side, the empty bottle of cheap wine tightly held in her grip. Sitting across from them on the sofa, the only one still awake, Elmyra shook her head and snorted at them. Why she put up with a lot of drunk teenagers (Zack acted like he was 15 so she was going to treat him as she perceived him) she did not know.

Their necks were going to hurt tomorrow, and she was going to laugh in their hung-over faces; Except for her baby's, of course, because even though she was the one to break out the wine, it had to have been the influence of those two boys. Although she kind of liked that Harry since he seemed like a nice boy.

Standing, she left the room and went into her bedroom. She was going to sleep in her own bed, drunken guests or not.

0000000000

End chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Harry bent himself backward, almost touching the floor with his hands now thanks to the stretching programs designed to raise a Soldier's flexibility, staring at the ceiling for lack of anywhere else to look. For some reason he had decided that it would be a good idea to research the stretching routines and expand on them, talking Reno into doing it with him. He had tried to get Cloud to join them, but since they did this really early in the morning in lieu of their previous sprinting schedule (which was now half the amount it had been before to make time for both activities) and Cloud was rather attached to his bed in the morning, it was a fruitless effort.

"Still can't touch the floor?" Reno teased, doing a rapid series of back-bridges for the sake of pissing Harry off.

It wasn't effective, since Harry was still half-asleep. "Huh?"

"Never mind." He sat and began shifting into a split so he could loosen his hips. "How's your boyfriend? Have you two exchanged those special three words yet?" He sneered, trying to hide the raging green monster trying to burst out of him. Harry wasn't interested, but still wanted to be friends. Why wasn't this enough for him?

"Yeah."

His head shot up. He hadn't been expecting that, which why he had even asked. "I…when?"

"A couple of weeks ago, the day before he introduced me to the loveliness of the Lower Plate, he said it out of nowhere. I said it back, but I don't think he was saying it seriously." He shrugged. "But if he was testing the water to see how I would respond, I wanted him to know that I was okay with it either way, so I didn't act girly about it."

"I…see."

"Do you really?" he grinned, sitting across from Reno and moving into the same position for splits. "Have you got a secret someone you're not telling me about?"

"Not the sort you're talking about- would you stop winking! You're going to give yourself a twitch!"

"Sorry." Harry snickered. "Do go on."

"Yeah, anyway, as I was saying, I was approached by this guy after training a couple of days ago."

Harry looked up from stretching his arms as far as he safely could without pulling them out of their sockets. "And what? Did you fuck him in the showers or something?"

Reno flushed. "Since when do you use the word 'fuck'?"

"Since I felt the need to. And from the expression on your face, I think you did. Anything else I should know about him?"

"Yes! He wants me to consider joining the Turks."

"What? Really? Is he some kind of official recruiter?"

"No, he just said that they've been watching me for a while and said that I might be good at it. I said I'd think about it because I wanted to talk to you about it first." He stood, stretching his arms above his head.

Harry copied the move. "You want my honest opinion?"

"Yeah; you're usually good at…life decisions."

"Haha! What gave you that idea?"

"I don't really know. You just seem smart. So what do you think? Should I become a Turk or continue down the virtuous path of a Soldier?"

"Virtuous? Moving on…Yes, I think you'd be a very good Turk since you're very sneaky, have great reflexes, and really won't react well when they institutionalize us into mindless soldiers who obey orders without question. I think you have too big of a rebellious streak to make a good drone."

"I knew you'd have something intelligent to say."

"Yeah, well, next time it won't be free." Harry punched his shoulder, heading for the track. "Have you told Cloud yet?"

"Last night, yeah. He just grunted, and said I should do what I think is best for me."

"Cloud was right to answer you so. No one can know what you can do better than you, you secretive bastard."

"I resent that!"

"Good! Race you around the track!"

00000000

Cloud bumped into Kyle when his room mate unexpectedly stopped, muttering a curse. He'd stubbed his toe, and Kyle was tetchy when he got touched unexpectedly.

"What's up, Kyle? The line moved!" He usually wouldn't have snapped like that, but he was really hungry today and the Soldier Entrance Exams were tomorrow which meant that the more vitamins he consumed through food, the faster he could think.

"I…nothing. Sorry. I thought I saw someone, that's all." Kyle hurried to cross the gap, picking up a tray. Cloud did the same, giving Reno a 'what the hell just happened?' look.

Reno shrugged. The ways of Kyle were strange and mysterious, and nobody knew where he had come from which added to the bizarre aura he had.

0000000

Lying on his back, Harry closed his eyes and breathed in deeply before letting it out slowly. He was still trying to catch his breath, the sound of Zack's soft snores lulling him into a peaceful haze. They had only made love once before, but he felt like he had never been without the experience.

How had he lived without Zack for so long?

Running the tips of his warm hands down Zack's bare back, he turned his head so he could slowly brush his nose against his boyfriend's cheek. Zack stirred, and he froze. He didn't want to wake him!

"Baby..?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Are you still awake?" He stretched out a hand and picked up the alarm clock, clicking the top button so the letters would light up. "Gaia, its 2 in the morning!"

"Heh, and you just fell asleep half an hour ago."

Zack kissed him. "I don't really care. I just want you to get enough sleep in time for tomorrow. The exams are only a few hours long, but I want you to be really alert."

"Aw, you're so nice. Go back to sleep- I'll fall asleep faster if you do."

"Yeah, yeah…" he curled himself tighter around Harry, reinforcing the Wizard's mental image of being a human teddy bear. Sighing happily, he tucked his head into the curve of Zack's neck and started mentally naming all of the known Death Eaters, and then the Goblin Wars.

He was asleep in minutes.

0000000

Waking up bright and early, he sighed when he realized that Zack was completely on top of him, his weight almost crushing but not quite.

"Um, Zack, honey? Could you wake up?"

"Hn." Zack stirred, but only burrowed his head deeper into Harry's pillow. Harry sighed gustily and began the arduous task of removing his boyfriend from his body.

Finally removing the lump of heavy flesh that he had somehow fallen in love with, he stretched and made for the shower. There was a distinct lack of unused towels as usual, but he didn't really care if Zack had used the one he was currently drying his hair with because it meant that he would smell like his boyfriend.

Pulling on his cadet sweats and socks, he carried his shoes in one hand and his bag over his shoulder as he snuck back into the bedroom. Balancing himself precariously over the bed so he could reach Zack's face, he kissed his cheek, lips lingering as if they couldn't bear to be parted with his tanned cheekbone, and then whispered in his ear that he loved him.

Zack smiled in his sleep, cuddling the pillow that Harry had been apparently replaced with to his chest like a little boy.

"Aw…" he tore himself away, carefully closing the door as quietly as he could behind him and heading quickly down the hallway to the doors. He had another hour before the exams started and he wanted some breakfast between now and then.

00000000

The written test had been half an hour long and stupidly easy in Harry's eyes. He supposed that at this point they were just hoping you had some common sense and could follow basic strategy. Playing chess with Ron was far more complicated than the situations they had given multiple-choice questions on.

He was expecting more of the physical test as well, which lasted three hours and was divided into two parts. The first part was to ensure that you could perform the kata formations correctly (it took fifteen minutes since there weren't many on the infantry level) and how good your aim was. Anyone who could not hit the target in at least 3 of the 10 required areas was immediately expelled from the program.

The last part was an endurance test that had them go through a variety of their daily exercises for as long as they were able. Some kid in the 18-and-up age group broke the record for Most Pull-Ups in ten minutes, but other than that it was pretty boring.

Just as Harry thought the testing was over, however, they handed everyone a Water Materia and asked them to produce a puddle. He almost burst out laughing when he saw how bored the instructors were and the attempts of some of his classmates to perform the spell.

He was noticeably not given a Materia like everyone else, but rather a piece of paper and asked to write down 2 spells to summon it.

They were dismissed for the rest of the day once they were done to mill around aimlessly. Harry caught up with Reno and Cloud outside the door, since he had to stay behind and turn in his spells, and they went to dinner together.

"So when do we get our results? I wanted to ask but the instructors were too busy." Cloud poked at his meat, the plastic fork bending rather than puncturing its tough skin. It was more like beef jerky than steak, but whatever. False titles seemed to be en vogue at Shin-Ra Inc. so Harry wasn't going to argue.

"I heard it was in two or three days, depending on which group you're in. older guys go first, of course." Kyle muttered the last bit, taking a vicious stab at his peas, causing several to fly off his plate and onto the floor.

An older boy across the table, who had gotten a pea to the face, hissed like a cat. Kyle hissed back, and then grinned.

"Um, Kyle, have you been sleeping?" Harry asked gently, reaching across the table to pat the blonde's hand. Kyle nodded.

"Yeah, I just have some family trouble going on and its making me a little short-tempered."

Reno opened his mouth to make some kind of sarcastic comment and harry kicked him on the thigh under the table, dangerously close to his groin. Reno shut up.

"Let me know if you need anything, Kyle."

"Oh…thanks." Kyle smiled shyly, which was the first time Harry had seen him self-conscious outside of the showers.

000000000

End chapter 16

I have nothing to say. Isn't life full of surprises?


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

"So how do you think we did?" Reno asked, breaking the silence that had descended over their group. Tomorrow morning, after turning in the last bits of review homework they were given yesterday, they would find out who was to move onto the Soldier ranks and who would be transferred into the infantry. In some extreme cases of utter incompetence, you were expelled from the programs completely.

Harry had heard some disturbing rumors about the few who fell into that category being used in the labs as test subjects, but found that a little hard to believe. If Shin-Ra was really doing something like that, wouldn't somebody have noticed? But then, he supposed that the large population of Midgar might make tracking every one of its citizens more than a little difficult. The Sectors below the Plate were more like rabbit warrens then organized housing sections, so there were sure to be many places to hide if one had to.

"I don't think they're going to let me pass." Cloud spoke up, putting away his weapons magazine. The waxy pages shone dully in the light of their torches, or 'flashlights' as they were called here.

"What? Why not?" Harry asked, scribbling his name on the bottom of his homework. He had already written his paper, but re-read it and decided that it could do with some revision.

"Because the 12-year-old did better on the endurance tests than I did, and my Materia only made a little bit of condensation on the instructor's water bottle. He didn't appreciate it."

"Shit, this means we'll all be in different sections!"

"What?" the panicked note in Reno's voice caught Harry's attention. Lately, he had been impressed with the emotional maturing that he had noticed in his friend. He had been worried that Reno would remain a child in many ways forever.

"I decided to join the Turks, told the guy my decision, and I start the day after tomorrow. If Harry passes the Soldier test, which he will, and Cloud doesn't, that puts us in 3 different departments. We might never see each other again."

Cloud blinked, and then began to tear up. Harry wrapped his arms around him and pulled the smallest of them into his lap, leaning his back against the post of the bed. They had somehow all fit onto it, despite their growth spurts, and it was a little cramped. Cloud buried his face in Harry's sleep shirt, sniffling and curling himself into as small of a ball as he could.

"I don't want you to move on without me."

"Shh, Cloud, I'll still find some way to see you. And I might not pass after all, because of my Materia impairment."

Reno looked up from where he had been trying to trace the origins of the funny reddish stain on Harry's pillow. "Yeah, what's up with that, anyway?"

Harry shrugged. "No idea. Maybe its something funny in my genetic code of something."

"Well, have you been Mako poisoned before? I read someplace that that can affect your ability to use a Materia, although it usually doesn't mean that you amplify its power like you apparently do."

"I'm special." Harry smirked, pulling Cloud closer. He had been planning to go over to Zack's complex and wait there, but now he didn't think it would be a good idea to leave Cloud alone in Reno's 'capable' hands. "They might not let me into Soldier, though. I just hope I don't get deemed worthless and dumped on my ass in the Lower Plate."

"I thought you had friends there."

"If you count an impoverished old lady and her adopted daughter, then yes. but I could never impose on them. I would almost rather die."

Reno snickered. "Almost?"

"Hey, if it was for the greater good then I suppose I could live on their charity, but I wouldn't be a dead weight unlike someone I know."

"You're awfully insulting this evening." Cloud giggled, the sound muffled by Harry's knee, which he had shifted so he could rest his head against. "What's the matter, Harry? Are you not 'getting enough'?"

"At the risk of giving you a heart attack, Mr. Sinclair, I am sorry to inform you that your hypothesis is very wrong. I am giving up sex tonight so I can comfort you, you girls."

Reno's jaw dropped. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You two are already having sex?"

"What on earth do you mean by 'already'? We've been together for almost 4 months now, you bastard! And I can sleep with him if I want to. Its not like he's bad at it" He reached for Cloud's discarded magazine and opened its pages, clearly sending the message that he was not pleased.

They were silent for almost five minutes. Cloud drifted peacefully in and out of sleep, blissfully enjoying the sensation of Harry stroking his hair. His mother used to pet his hair like this when he was little and had either had a nightmare or she was in a good mood. It helped that Harry seemed to know the exact spots on his skull that needed to be stroked, and the quiet humming sounds he made were almost a lullaby.

"Okay, fine! I'm sorry. Are you happy now?" Reno snapped, crossing his arms.

Harry smirked, nodded, and went back to looking through the magazine. Looking a little stunned at how nonplussed Harry's reaction had been, he looked around to make sure that the one other guy who hadn't gone out to pace the halls and generally freak himself out with the others was still sleeping. Satisfied that he was going to be unobserved, he scooted over to Harry and settled next to him.

When he got a funny look, he said, "There's no reason why Cloud should get all the attention, even if he is cute and blonde. If this is our last night, screw the rules: I'm spending the night here with you guys."

"Okay, that's fine with me, but Cloud's drifting off here so I'm going to need us to figure out where we're going to sleep."

"Alright…um…where do you want me?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm going to shimmy down here and keep Cloud where he is. How about we find the biggest spot once I've lain down?"

"Okay."

Shifting himself, grinning when Cloud whined, he settled his head on the pillow, Cloud curled under arm and insistently moving his hair into petting range. "Go ahead, Reno."

Reno ended up on Cloud's other side, much to his disappointment.

0000000

"I passed!" Reno crowed, waving his sheet of paper in the air like so many other candidates. Harry smiled, keeping Cloud close to him despite the petite boy's attempts to move away and most likely find a corner to angst in. He hadn't passed as expected, and had a boring future as canon fodder looming ahead of him unless he passed the tests next year.

Harry's results were delayed, aggravatingly enough. When he'd asked the instructor when he would be getting them, he had gotten a sphinx-like smirk and a phone number, oddly enough.

"Did you get your results, Harry?" Reno bounced, lengthening hair, which he'd been dared into cutting in the shape of a Muggle mullet, swishing.

"Nope, but I got the guy's phone number."

"Which one?"

"The hot one you were staring at." He waved the thin slip of paper torn from off the register and scribbled on. "You want it?

"Yes! Yes!"

Harry held it out of reach, standing on his toes to maintain the upper hand and thanking Merlin for his reflexes since Reno had the advantage of larger mass and height. Finally, noticing the funny looks most of the older Soldiers were giving them (a range of perversion to disgust that he found a little worrying), he gave it to him. "Take it."

"Thank you!" He grabbed Harry's head and kissed the side of it. "Okay, now let's go get drinks so Cloud can drown himself, I can celebrate, and Harry can get paranoid about why they won't tell him whether or not they want him!"

"There's no need to sound so goddamn excited…" Cloud muttered darkly, shoving his hands into his pockets and allowing the two older boys to wrap their arms around his shoulders and generally invade his personal space. He hadn't expected to befriend people like this when he'd left Nibelheim.

0000000

"Hi, I'd like to speak to Lazard." Zack spread his palms flat on the desk of Lazard's secretary's desk. She squeaked, and then picked up the phone.

"O-one moment please, Mr. Fair." She held the receiver to her ear, pressing the red button. "Lazard, Lieutenant Fair is here to see you." She set it down. "You can go in now."

"Thank you." He grinned, flashing his brilliantly white teeth, and then walked through the doors. As expected, Lazard was crammed into one corner of his ridiculously spacious office surrounded by painfully neat stacks of complete and incomplete paperwork. The reason for the unusually large work space was because he was claustrophobic and had an emotional break-down in his last office. Normally Shin-Ra would have replaced him with another grunt, but at that point no one else was even near qualified for the job besides Sephiroth, who was already swimming in work, so they upgraded him instead of sacking him.

Everyone had been a little leery of him since then, though. He had a wonderful personality, but the security tapes of his breakdown were pretty…intense.

"Lazard?"

"Hm?" He finished signing something and looked up with a smile. "What can I do for you, Zack?"

"I was wondering why you didn't pass a cadet known as Harry Potter who was more than qualified for the Soldier program. Do you know anything about that?"

"Oh, the one with the Materia impairment?"

Zack blinked. "Um, what?"

"Didn't you hear about that building that blew up?"

"Heh, who hasn't?"

"Yeah, well, that cadet was the one who did it. It was an accident, of course, since the bizarre reactions Materia have around him seem to be connected to something in his skin, so he was not discharged. However, the Soldier program requires a lot of exposure to Materia so we're not quite sure where to put him at the moment. We're considering the Special Forces, but he'd have to be either a one-man unit, or paired with someone specializing in explosions."

"I…was this classified?"

"Yes, but I believe most of those present during the first explosion are aware that it was him. No moves have been made to suppress any rumors." He folded his hands, a secretive smile crossing his lips. "You seem awfully interested in this cadet, Zack. Do you…know him?"

"Yes, and I thought we were close. Apparently he doesn't agree."

"I'm sorry to have been the one to deliver the news."

Zack nodded tersely, turning and leaving without saying goodbye. The door slammed behind him.

Why wouldn't Harry tell him about something like this? He thought they were making progress- that they could trust each other more than this.

00000000

End chapter 17


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

Harry looked up from where he was folding laundry when he heard the door to the apartment he practically lived in open and slam. Zack must have had a bad day at work- he almost never did, but when he did he usually took it out on the furniture rather than people.

A chair crashed to one side in the living area. He calmly continued folding his boyfriend's shirts and trousers, sorting his own clothing out and to one side to fold later.

Zack appeared in the door to the bedroom, where Harry was seated on the bed and using it as a surface for his folding, the laundry spread out around him and filling the air with a warm, clean scent.

"Are you alright, honey?"

Zack continued breathing deeply, fire blazing in his eyes.

"Um, Zack? Hello?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry blinked, starting on the socks. "Tell you what, love?"

"About the explosion, the Materia, everything!"

"Oh…sorry, I thought you already knew. I didn't know it was a big deal." He shrugged, hoping that he could placate Zack in time to tell him that he'd just been emailed a message from Corporate that said he was now a reserve officer for the Special Forces and required to report to their office tomorrow at noon.

"It's a big deal to me! They can't let you into Soldier-"

"But baby, I live with you! If you're worried about not being to spend enough time with me, stop. Heh, we can still sleep together and everything."

"That's not the point…wait, you can still sleep with me?"

"Uh, yeah. And I just got an email accepting me into the Special Forces, and I don't have to show up at their office until 12 tomorrow so we can…stay up late."

Zack grinned, coming close and hugging Harry's shoulders to his chest. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"Hey, it's nothing I haven't heard before. Between the instructors and my friends, it's surprising when no one is upset."

"I would prefer you to not be used to it." He kissed the top of his head. "Did you tell your friends about your promotion? The Special Forces are kind of a big deal, you know."

"No, I didn't know. And I did not tell them yet because I was waiting for you to get home so I could tell you first, in person." He smiled shyly, hoping that he wouldn't sound too girly or romantic.

"Aw, seriously?"

"Yep. I knew you'd pitch a fit like a jilted puppy if I didn't." He laughed, missing the mildly stricken look that crossed the Soldier's face at the word 'puppy'. He did, however, catch the sudden stiffening of Zack's stomach muscles.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, nothing. Nothing is wrong. Do you want to celebrate? Let's go out for Wutain food!"

"Sure!" Harry would drill him later.

0000000

Full of noodles, spices, and rice wine, Harry flopped onto their bed and sighed happily. He could Zack undressing, and then his large hands were tugging at his own clothes since he had seemingly lost his ability to grip objects. They slid through his fingers like smoke, and Zack chuckled when he started cursing himself.

"Its okay: I like undressing you. You're like a doll or something, just for me."

"That was cheesier than usual."

"Shut up; I'm drunk."

"So? Is that some kind of excuse, because I'm not buying that bullshit."

"You sound awfully sober for someone who can't undo his own zipper." Zack tugged Harry's trousers down his leg, laughing when Harry belatedly tried to kick him but couldn't because of the restricting cloth.

"Fuck you."

"Oh, I will."

"Hey, no being perverted! I'm too tired…"

"What?! Tired? Isn't the whole point of being young your endless libido?" Zack folded Harry's trousers and set them on the chair beside the bed, crawling up to lie beside Harry and accidentally landing on his arm.

Harry groaned and tried to pull his crushed limb out from under him, eventually resorting to beating on Zack's back with his fist until the older man rolled over, grumbling about bony elbows.

"Why are you so skinny, anyway? You just have muscle, no baby fat."

"I wasn't allowed to be a baby while I grew up, so maybe my body subconsciously copied my lifestyle?"

"What do you mean?"

Harry gasped. He shouldn't have drunk so much. "Uh, nothing."

Zack raised himself up on his elbows, looking down at Harry and seeing only certain sections of his face dimly illuminated by the street lights. "No, Harry, I want to know. You drop these…these hints sometimes and I'm sick of waiting. What happened to you when you were little?"

Harry muttered something.

"What was that?" Zack leaned in close, hot breath warming Harry's cold neck.

"I said that the relatives I lived with when I was little didn't like me very much. I was consequently 'punished' through starvation. It was very effective, although it would have been better if I had actually known what I did to set them off in the first place."

"Relatives? What about your parents?"

"They were killed when I was a baby…I think I told you about this before."

"Did you?" Zack brushed his palm across Harry's cheek, eyes widening when it came away wet. He hadn't realized that Harry was crying. "Oh, baby, you don't have to talk about this-"

"No, I do. You wanted to know, so you're going to get a low-down on my emotional baggage." He took a deep breath. "My parents were murdered, I lived for years with my aunt and uncle who hated me because I was different from them, and then I went to school and made some wonderful friends who stuck by me through thick and thin. Unfortunately, most of them died during a very thin time, and the ones who did live kind of drifted away. We just don't talk anymore."

"Oh my god…"

"Yeah."

"So…that one time, when we first met and you were drunk and you said that everyone was dead, you weren't kidding."

"Why would I possibly joke about something like that?"

Zack shrugged. "Drunks can be delusional." He hugged Harry closer, grabbing the covers and pulling them up and around them. "I'm sorry I doubted you. Stop crying?"

"I will in a moment." Harry curled into himself, willing the memories surrounding him like a smoke ring to vanish. They did, but very slowly and reluctantly. He knew he was going to have nightmares tonight, and hoped that he wouldn't keep Zack awake.

000000

Walking into the mess hall, Harry crossed the room to the table he usually shared with Reno and Cloud, upset to see that Cloud had already been transferred to the much larger section for the infantry and Reno was nowhere to be found.

Kyle was there, however, stubbornly shoveling bites of stew into his mouth. Tapping the blonde's shoulder, Harry smiled softly at him when the younger boy twitched and looked up at him with fear that melted away when he recognized him.

"Where were you last night?"

"I was with Zack. Why? What happened?"

"Nothing, I just seem to be the only one out of our little group who made it to Soldier."

"That's wonderful!"

"Not really…they don't segregate by age in Soldier."

Harry blinked, then his eyes widened until they almost popped out of his face. He had heard rumors about this kind of thing happening, but he hadn't expected it to happen to Kyle, even though he was very cute and blonde on top of that. Supposedly blondes were more popular or some such shit…

"I…Kyle, are you okay?"

He nodded, unexpectedly grinning. "Yeah, I'm really good, actually."

"Wait…were you raped last night or not? You're freaking me out here, Kyle."

"Raped? No, I just got a 'welcoming' kiss from the hottest person ever, and it went on for a little longer than a welcome kiss does."

Harry laughed, taking a sip of his coffee. "God, Kyle, you are evil. I was getting ready to go tear some big guy to pieces. And is this guy in the mess with us right now?"

Kyle glanced to the sharp left quickly and then nodded, barely holding back his grin. Harry followed his eyes, seeing a burly guy…another burly guy…and finally a bubbly-looking brunette with very bright blue eyes, obviously created by the mako treatments. Noticing the two boys, for lack of a better phrase, checking him out, he waved.

Kyle laughed and blushed, waving back and going back to his food, trying to act normal. Harry snickered and poked his arm. "I'm happy you're settled in nicely, and I want you to come get me if anybody gives you shit."

"Yeah, yeah. you sound like a weirdly protective older brother, you know that?"

"I do? Dang…I always wanted a brother." He looked Kyle over. "You'll have to do."

"Whatever, man."

"Yeah, whatever. At least we still get to eat together."

0000000

End chapter 18

Heh…


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Awkwardness in his own limbs that he hadn't experienced in months seemed to come back in a rush, and he finally understood why the first day of school was so uncomfortable for other people. Walking down the halls to the room where he'd been told to report for Special Forces training had been nothing, and he had calmly sipped his coffee from lunch as he went and idly thought about what kind of missions he'd get to do, but as soon as he was standing in front of that closed white door, he had frozen.

And his stomach twisted into a knotted coil of misery and he had begun to mentally review his strengths and weaknesses, wondering if they would regret letting a kid into their ranks. After all, other than his profoundly strange reaction to Materia, what specialty did he have to offer?

He wasn't given time to contemplate this, though, since the door whipped open and a very skinny teenager almost a foot shorter than his with tightly braided blue hair came out. Not expecting a human-sized obstacle, he was unable to stop his momentum in time and bowled him over.

Harry was happy the carpet was clean.

"Oh, I am _such _a klutz!" the kid laughed nervously, standing quickly and offering Harry a hand. He took it, hearing laughter from a third party. Looking over at the open door, Harry saw an older officer bent double from the force of his hysterical laughter; another guy wearing a Turk's uniform with a shaved head and sunglasses stood beside him smirking. Harry got the impression that he didn't laugh much.

Not seeing any other option, he took the boy's hand and nearly toppled over in the opposite direction when far more strength than he'd been expecting was used. The kid prevented a second accident with a hand to his chest. "Careful. I'm Lenny, by the way. Are you the new kid?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm Harry."

"Cool. I guess it's a good thing I ran into you, because our boss seems to be incapable of introducing us." He pointed at the laughing man, rolling his eyes when the older man tried to regain his composure, pointed between them, and started laughing again. By way of explanation, he said, "Someone spiked the coffee today, but I guess you already knew that since you brought your own. You're good." He nodded with approval and Harry decided to just go with it.

"Er, thanks."

"No problem. Welcome to Special Forces and the madness therein. Do you want to come inside, or should we conduct the boring process of form-signings out here? Its not like anybody would care- we've got this floor all to ourselves."

"I trust your judgment, Lenny. Wherever you think would be best."

"Inside it is, then. We've got lumpy sofas that won't turn your bum into mincemeat like the floor out here would if given half a chance." He led the way back over, but the Turk was blocking the way. Harry wondered what a Turk was doing here in the first place before he remembered reading somewhere that the Turks and Special Forces sometimes worked together with their respective headquarters close beside each other. "Um, Rude, could we get by?"

Rude unexpectedly smiled. "What's the magic word?"

Without thinking, Harry said, "Alohamora!"

Everyone stopped and blinked at him, and he wished the floor would swallow him up. "Sorry. It's an inside joke."

"Oh, okay." Lenny grinned, lightly pushing Rude to the side. "'scuse us."

Harry looked around. What he had been expecting to be an office looked more like a recreation room, with a few small cubicles mostly dismantled in the corners containing computers and a few officers with looks of either deep concentration or boredom in their faces. He spied a few games of solitaire.

Rounding the corner of one of the cubicles, Lenny revealed a wooly-looking sofa. However, aforementioned sofa was occupied by two things. One was a gangly redhead Harry was happy to see, already wearing the Turk's signature uniform suit but in a far more rumpled state than was likely allowed, and the other was a calico cat cheerfully chewing on his ponytail.

Reno looked like he has passed out after a week's worth of partying or something similar, even though Harry knew that he couldn't have possibly have done his liver any real damage in the last 12 hours since he'd seen him.

Not seeming to care that the couch was occupied, Lenny pushed Reno's legs to one side and sat, patting a spare bit of space beside him with a carefree smile. The tables flanking the couch were groaning under the weight of various boxes and manila folders, and Lenny casually removed one from the top, flicked it open, nodded to himself, and sat back down.

"Okay, let's get down to business." He handed three sheets of paper to him, and then took two of them back, looking embarrassed. "Whoops, those are mine. These are for you." He handed him a stapled trio printed on pink paper that made Harry snort.

"What?" Lenny looked defensive, clutching his folder to his chest. "I like the color pink!"

"I didn't say anything." Harry smirked at him, winking when Lenny started to look genuinely offended. "Do I just read through these and fill in the information?"

"Yeah, and then I'm supposed to interrogate you on whether or not you're a spy."

Harry looked up from where he was writing in his birthday and birthplace, raising his eyebrows as high as they could go. "Who the hell would be stupid enough to spy on this company?"

Lenny shrugged. "The rebels have gotten desperate lately, like kamikaze squads or something is en vogue over there."

"…lovely."

"Tell me about it." Lenny twiddled his thumbs while Harry went through filling out the forms with his health history, and then moving onto the pink sheets which contained more personal (and professionally irrelevant) questions like what kind of underwear he wore and whether or not he had sweated on his first date. Apparently it was some kind of complex psychological procedure to see if you were likely to go crazy.

"All done." He handed them back, grinning when Lenny said that it was time to visit the torture chambers.

He was kidding, right?

Right?

0000000

Eyes wide and mouth kind of dry, Harry knew that he could never look at innocent-looking the same Lenny ever again. After a harrowing two hours (he could have sworn several centuries had gone by in that concrete cube of a room, but apparently not) of being emotionally stretched and battered, he had been released and suddenly Lenny was his smiling bouncy self again.

Miraculously, he had not let a single word regarding the magical world, his own inherent magical abilities, or general ignorance of basic formalities in this strange world escapes his lips. Lenny said he was completely normal and likely to hold up well under pressure. According to him, though, you could never be positive until you'd killed someone.

Harry tactfully neglected to mention the gory details of the night he killed not only Voldemort but most of his Death Eaters single-handedly, and believed himself to be fully capable of handling cold-blooded murder or "assassinations"

"And this is the coffee area." He indicated the small room lit with a fluorescent lights covered partially with cracked plastic sheets. There were three people slumped around the card table provided, all clutching cheap foam cups and in various states of inebriation. Harry fought down his grin.

He was going to like working here, that was for sure.

"So where do I go to train?"

"Huh? Oh, physical training is very personalized here since we are pretty much the misfits who fit into the slots not even Turks can squeeze into. So basically we have a gymnasium with a variety of machines for different areas of your anatomy, and when you're accepted into this branch of the company our trainer Wentz, or Kevin as he prefers to be called, will meet with you in the gym and see what kind of muscle development you need to make the most of your natural talents."

"That's a really good idea."

"Thanks!" Lenny chirped. "Anyways, we figure out exercise schedules from there, and everybody has to do stamina exercises on the track. After that, we have you do whatever missions we get that you're suited for, paperwork that the higher-ups don't feel like doing, and try to beat each other at MSTs."

"MSTs? What is that?"

"It stands for Mind and Spirit Training. They're tests of all kinds designed to tie your mind into knots trying to figure them out. You usually feel a bit mushy upstairs once you're done, like your noggin has just had a horrible bruising, but they really help us on the job since it keeps us sharp."

"So what about my Materia disability?"

"What about it? If we need an explosion that can't be of any recognizable type, you'll be our man." Lenny shrugged. "I'm personally curious to see what would happen if you fiddled with a Summon."

Harry cast his mind about, latching onto the knowledge of very expensive and rare Materia that could summon a spirit/god/being and use it to wreak havoc in a battle. Dammit, now _he _was curious too!

"You…you wouldn't happen to have a Summon Materia on you, would you?"

Lenny gave him a sly smile. "I possibly might have a stolen Leviathan in the top drawer of my desk, but you never know…"

"Oh really?"

Lenny just smiled sweetly, not a trace of guile or plotting in his features. The longer Harry looked at him; he was having trouble figuring out how old he was. At first he had thought they were around the same age, but now he thought that he could be anything between 15 and 30.

Half an hour later they were outside of the building, in the same place Harry had re-tried the Bolt Materia with Sephiroth and Lazard. The burnt star pattern was still there, actually, a few feet away from where he now stood, waiting for Lenny to hand him the Summon. When he finally did, he held it with his sleeve so he wouldn't accidentally activate it until Lenny was as far away as he deemed safe enough. They had stopped by the medical office to pick up some Healing Materia, in case he had an accident.

"Ready?"

"Ready!" He shouted back, dropping the blue-green orb sphere drop into his palm. It felt almost like liquid, and was cold to the touch. The second his fingers closed around it, he was fully aware of another consciousness residing within it, and it felt almost like when he had experienced Snape's brutal Legillimancy.

"Who are-"

He wasn't given a chance to finish his sentence, because suddenly he was surrounded by a…a fishbowl of sorts, about twenty feet around, and it was filling rapidly with water. The Materia pulsed in his hand, not causing him any pain other than the subtle ache in one's bones when they are very cold.

Once the bowl was full, and he no longer breathe or see Lenny's panicked face outside the bubble, fists pounding against it, a great sea serpent came out of the Materia, nuzzled his neck, and disappeared back into the Materia.

Inside his mind, as the water drained away and the bubble began evaporating in the chilly sunlight, he heard a smooth voice rumble:

"_When you truly have need of me, I will come. Do not waste my time again, Wizard."_

000000

End chapter 19

I know I totally disappeared for two whole days, but I had a ton of stuff going on and didn't have time to write *anything*.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Oh my god, is this chapter twenty already? I'm getting old, people.

CHAPTER 20

Shivering, wrapped in a blanket in the medic's office for the Special Forces, Harry laughed at a joke Reno made about one of the corrupt politicians recently arrested in the Slums. Harry somehow knew that behind the huge scandal and very public arrest was something far more sinister, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"So how did you get soaked anyway? Did you get pushed into the pool by that bastard Rude?"

Harry laughed, imagining Rude sneaking up behind Reno and shoving him suddenly into the freezing pool (or so he'd been warned) that the Special Forces used for laps. "No, I was just out testing some water Materia, to see how it would react, and this was one of the little side effects."

Reno nodded sagely. "You just can't do anything right, can you?"

"Oh shut up, or you might find my wet self in your lap."

He got a smirk, and realized how suggestive that sounded. "Reno, don't you dare-"

Reno pounced, and Harry squealed, trying to escape from the tickle attack. He had seen Reno do this a thousand times to Cloud, but hadn't realized how well-suited for inflicting torture of the tickling type Reno's long thin fingers were.

"Ah, stop, stop! I give!"

"Yeah, stop." A new voice said, and Harry sat up to see Zack leaning in the door frame, looking very stormy indeed.

Since he didn't know what had set Zack off, other than perhaps coming to visit him and finding another man on top of him, Harry decided to act as normal as possible. "Oh, hi honey!"

"Hey." Zack continued glaring at Reno, who had retreated to the other side of the bed and was subtly keeping his hands where the First Class could see them. Zack kissed Harry's cheek for longer than he thought necessary, holding him in place with a pair of large hands cupping his face. "How are you feeling?"

"Wet."

Zack snickered. "Well, besides that. Do you have a fever or anything? The healer was very reticent about giving me details."

"Probably because there aren't any." He shrugged. "I just got completely soaked, and the only reason I am still here is so they can observe me."

"You're sure?" Zack sat down next to him, and Reno moved his feet quickly so Zack wouldn't accidentally-on-purpose crush them. He possessively grabbed Harry's hand, and missed the smirk Harry shot at Reno behind his back. "Are you warm enough?"

"I'm fine, Zack. And won't you be missed? Its not five o'clock yet, you know."

Zack blushed. "Well, Lenny told Lazard, Lazard told Sephiroth, and then he mysteriously showed up in my office and said I wasn't allowed to work until tomorrow morning."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"Yeah." Zack nodded enthusiastically, a bit of the exuberant teenager he had once been sparkling in his eyes. "This is also the reason why Seph is The Best Boss Ever."

"Is that some obscure title I didn't know about?"

"Well, every year on the day we are calling his birthday since he won't tell us his real one, we get a massive cake with 'World's Best Boss' wrote on it in huge letters. He never eats any of it, and usually smacks us around for our cheek, but he doesn't seem to mind too much."

"Wow. This, uh, adds a whole new dimension to the General." Reno chuckled, avoiding Harry's playful slap.

Zack seemed appeased by the distance Reno was keeping, and even deigned to smile at him without looking like a wolf about to devour him whole, and not in a good way. Reno smiled nervously back, still carefully keeping his distance from his crush and psychotic boyfriend.

He should have known that Harry would attract a complete and very jealous madman.

0000000000

Over dinner, wrapped very much against his will in three of Zack's thick sweaters, Harry idly discussed the pros and cons of hail versus sleet. They had made one of those generic freezer meals that were supposed to be pasta dish of some kind but had come out in a solid clump instead of individual noodles.

Harry popped a piece of chicken into his mouth, slumping down further in his chair, his leg brushing against Zack's by accident. "Sorry."

Zack bumped his own leg against his and kept it there pressed against him. "Don't be."

Rolling his eyes, since this was the first time they'd played footsie within the confines of their own apartment, he took a sip of wine and then another when he realized that this was the good bottle Sephiroth had apparently given to Zack for 'no reason'. He could swear that that man could read minds…and he had barely met him twice.

Zack bumped his leg again to get his attention, and Harry felt warmth that he hadn't felt since before his unexpected foray into water settle in his stomach. "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, just Sephiroth." He had been tempted to lie and say something more suggestive, but didn't think that he needed to stoke Zack's libido too much right now.

Zack looked irritated. "What about him?"

"Just that it was thoughtful of him to give us this." He lifted his wine and gestured with it, "Since I think wine is really going to help me…warm up." He shifted his foot to massage the arch of Zack's socked one, smiling dreamily. He was feeling a bit tired, to tell the truth, and didn't want to eat anymore food. "I think I want to go to bed now."

Zack perked up, and Harry almost started laughing. Some things never changed, he though to himself, stacking the dishes and rinsing them before loading them while Zack disposed of the unappetizing leftovers.

Just as he pushed the 'start' button, Zack came behind him and scooped him up bridal-style, which was something he rarely did when not inebriated.

"Hey, what's the occasion?" He grabbed the bottle of wine while Zack carefully maneuvered him through the flat,

"No occasion, I just feel like pampering you since you're a big SF guy now."

"They aren't that scary."

Zack chuckled. "You're telling me! I thought Lenny was some kind of welcoming committee to help you relax when I first met him, but apparently he was one of the first members and most dangerous." He set Harry on the sheets. "Did you know he can alter spells to let him breathe fire?"

Harry blinked. He wasn't sure if that was possible in the Magical world. "Uh, no. I missed that detail."

Zack shrugged. "I never would have known if I hadn't pissed him off and he chased me around the entire floor burning everything in his path."

Harry tried and failed to conjure up a mental image of even a slightly irate Lenny. "I'm kind of scared to ask, but what exactly did you do to make him so mad? I need to know where to step lightly since I don't fancy burning to a crisp before I'm twenty."

"I told the guy he was crushing on about his feelings without asking permission. I thought I was doing him a favor!"

Harry groaned. "Zack, will you never learn?" He poked his nose with a finger, curling up under the covers and trying to get comfortable while his boyfriend made every effort to slide under him.

"Hey, how am I supposed to sleep with your bony self under me?" Harry griped, swatting away Zack's groping hand heading for his crotch.

Even though it was dark he knew Zack was pouting, so he sighed gustily and groped over the edge of the bed for where Zack had set down the bottle of wine, carefully raising himself up to take a swig. It wasn't a very elegant way to drink it, but god knew that bringing glasses into a dark room with Zack in it was an instant equation for broken glass (which he would somehow end up cleaning).

"Don't drink all of that-"

"I won't." Harry handed it to him after blindly waving his arm in the dark, knowing that he must have looked stupid to Zack, who could see in the dark thanks to Mako.

"What's got you upset?"

Harry settled down on the pillows, closing his eyes. "Nothing's wrong. Why'd you ask?"

"You're flushed."

"Duh; I just had some wine."

"Oh, right."

Hearing the smothered hurt in his voice, Harry decided to make amends by shifting so he could curl himself around him, which he knew the First liked because he was 'better than a giant teddy bear'. Whatever that was supposed to mean…

Zack practically cooed, grabbing his waist and hugging him close. Against his will, Harry smiled in the dark, playfully biting his ear and acting innocent when Zack squawked, a singularly embarrassing noise that he never tired of hearing.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"What do you think?"

Zack bit his lip and wrinkled his brow, which Harry could feel by brushing his hand over his face. "Um, no idea. What did I do?"

"I'll give you a hint: it happened in the medical office."

Zack shrugged. "I have no idea."

"You nearly made Reno piss his pants for no reason. In case you missed the memo, he's my friend and I don't want him thinking that he can't spend time with me without endangering his livelihood."

"But he was on top of you!" Zack suddenly whined, and Harry had to muffle his laughter by biting his sleeve. Zack heard him anyway and scowled. "What's so damned funny?!"

Harry just shook his head, unable to speak for a few moments. "You and your ridiculous jealousy is what's funny, darling. But I hope you never change, despite it all."

"…Thanks?"

"You're welcome. Now quit fidgeting so I can sleep, won't you?"

00000000

End chapter 20


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

"Happy birthday to me." Harry whispered, pouring himself some coffee and glaring at the glowing clock numbers displaying '5:30 a.m' in aggravating letters. The Special Forces might have looked lazy, but they worked some bizarre hours. He had a bare half an hour left to get his butt over there, and Zack was still attached to his hips where he had fallen back asleep mid-hug.

"Huh?" Zack mumbled, noise pressed against his back and making him sound nasally.

Harry swallowed a half-laugh, half-sob when he was reminded painfully of Percy. "Nothing, honey; go back to sleep."

Zack snorted, but seemed to be waking up. Suddenly he stiffened and tightened his grip around him. "You said birthday."

"Uh…"

"Don't deny it; I know what I heard. Is today your birthday?"

Harry nodded, smiling with both resignation and quiet appreciation of his boyfriend's ability to be enthusiastic about anything this early in the morning. He had insisted on getting up the same time Harry did, but he had thought that his resolution would end there.

"And you're seventeen?"

"Yeah."

Zack sighed, hugging Harry closer. "Did you want to do anything special today?"

He shrugged, the weight of Zack's muscled arms starting to become somewhat burdensome. "I don't care either way. Did you have something in mind?"

"I'll be right back." Zack dashed off, and Harry shook his head fondly, finishing off his coffee and putting away the supplies he'd used to make toast. The butter had been kind of sour, so he tossed it out and wrote 'butter' on their shopping list. He might have time to go later today after he finished whatever they wanted out of him at the office.

Zack came bounding back in, one hand behind his back and a nervous smile playing over his lips. Harry straightened from where he'd begun to unload the dishwasher, watching him with interest as he bit his lip and bounced from one foot to the other.

"Okay, I don't know quite how to ask you this-"

Oh dear.

"But will you marry me?"

Harry stared at him, wondering if he had heard right. "I…what?"

"I know this isn't very romantic or anything, but if I waited any longer I would lose my nerve." Zack babbled, waving the small box that he had been hiding behind his back. "But please at least think about it."

Harry grinned. "I don't have to." He crossed the room and kissed his cheek. "Marriage isn't the present I was expecting, but that's because it's on the 'too good to be true' list."

"So, yes?"

"Of course I will." Harry laughed and kissed his mouth, happily letting himself get lifted off the floor and wrapping his arms around his neck and shoulders for leverage. "How long have you been planning this?"

Zack blushed sheepishly. "Two months, but I kept putting it off."

"I didn't know you were capable of putting things off." Harry observed, playing with a thick piece of Zack's hair. "Much less something like this."

"Neither did I, but I was so scared that I would scare you off that I waited a long while. When you said it was your birthday, I knew it was the right time to ask."

"As much as I appreciate all of this, I'm late for work."

The clock proudly displayed '6:15'.

0000000

Sprinting into the SF offices, Harry paused in front of Lenny's desk and gasped for breath, resting his hands on his knees.

"You're late."

"I know."

"I can't let this go unpunished, or else everyone else will get ideas."

"Yes, sir."

"God, Harry, just because I'm punishing you doesn't mean I'm a 'sir' now. As punishment, you must…" He trailed off, scanning his to-do list with a bored expression. "Ah yes. Go fetch the petition for fresh water out of the B3 file cabinet and have everybody sign it. You can then deliver it to the President's secretary, on the 12th floor."

"…right. Okay." He headed for the files, searching for the right metal box until he found it in the sea of them (the system went all the way up to 'm53'. Opening it, he rifled through the folders until he found the one labeled 'petitions'. Within it were petitions for towels, new slippers for someone named Charice (why the hell was that in there?!), and then finally one for fresh water.

Taking out the thick stapled stack, he did a round of the offices, politely asking everyone he could find if they would sign one of the blank pages stapled to the back of the top sheet detailing the request for water that was not several weeks old and therefore stale. Apparently they sometimes found algae in their water too and there were reports made by their science division about all the dangers of drinking unclean water.

He shook his head. What kind of company was he working for, really?

0000000

A long day of strange tasks and getting 'attacked' by Reno, who came jumping out of a closet and tackled him, Harry pushed the key to his apartment into the lock and stepped inside. Setting his jacket on the sofa and toeing off his shoes, he made himself at home.

He had just gotten comfortable on the couch and was reaching for the newspaper when the door opened and Zack came tip-toeing in followed by Sephiroth. He flattened himself silently on the couch, planning on scaring them.

"So if you work on the food I can work on the-"

"Zack, he's already home."

"What?" Zack looked around, and Harry smothered his giggles, watching them through their reflections on the blank television screen. "No he isn't-"

"His shoes are by the door and you are touching his jacket."

If Harry hadn't been straining his ears, he wouldn't have heard the amusement in the General's voice. He was certainly good at keeping his emotions under wraps, even if he was smirking.

"Huh?" Zack looked where Sephiroth had indicated and blinked. Harry stuffed his fist in his mouth, catching the General's eyes through the screen. Sephiroth, unbelievably, winked at him. He winked back, mouth slightly open.

"Harry? Honey, are you home?" Zack walked past the sofa and Harry tensed his muscles, releasing them suddenly and vaulting over the coffee table to land on Zack's back, taking him down onto the carpet with him and then putting him in a headlock before the brunette could react.

"Miss me?"

He released his fiancé's neck, and saluted loosely to Sephiroth. "'lo, sir."

"Good evening, Mr. Potter."

"Harry is fine, if you're comfortable calling me that."

He got a faint smile, and Harry couldn't help comparing the white of his teeth to the way the kitchen light was reflecting off of his long hair. "Harry it is, then. And congratulations on your engagement to Zack; I'm glad that the prayers of many have been answered."

"Thank you."

"If you two don't mind, I would like to be included in this conversation." Zack huffed. "And what do you mean prayers?

"Oh, just the desperate pleas that someone would come along with the ability to control you and your…personality." With a smirk, he stepped around them and into the kitchenette. "I want some water."

"Get me some too, please." Harry said, cuddling Zack's head to keep him appeased. "Were you coming over here to surprise me?"

Zack nodded. "We were going to make you dinner and everything."

"I take it Sephiroth is here to prevent you from burning the apartment down?"

Zack blushed. "Shut up."

Harry stood, helping him up and leading the way into the kitchen where he found Sephiroth sipping his water and looking through their fridge. "Fortunately for you, Zack, you have just enough to make some soup."

"I don't have any base-"

"You have left-over chicken."

Harry dug out a pot, smiling to himself when the two older men started a complicated discussion on tactics and how it related to some random skirmish last year made on the company's Mako-Extraction center in Mideel by some group called AVALANCHE.

Sephiroth helped him shred the chicken while Zack made gagging sounds every time they cracked one of the bones, tossing them into the pot with squishing sounds.

"Zack, if you don't stop bouncing there, I will make you shred this chicken with us." Harry threatened, waving a chicken leg at him.

"What can I do to help besides that?"

"Um…" Harry looked around. "You could eat that cheesecake before it rots."

Zack grinned and snatched the take-out box containing his precious cheese cake. "With pleasure."

While the sounds of Zack's happy munching filled the kitchen as pleasant enough background noise, Sephiroth softly spoke up, "Harry, the other reason I am here is to ask you if you would be willing to come and assist me and Zack on a generic mission to evaluate a Reactor in the Nibel Mountains."

Harry looked up. "Oh?"

"There have been reports of bizarre Monsters breeding in the area resistant to most Materia attacks, and this might be a chance for you to see if your methods are more effective." His eyes glinted mischievously. "The fact that your soon-to-be husband is also going to be there is purely an accident; coincidence, even."

Harry looked at him from under his lashes. "Of course, sir."

"Sephiroth, please; and we leave in a week's time. There will be two infantry men accompanying us as well."

"Thank you for this opportunity, Sephiroth."

He flashed him a grin unexpectedly. "Nonsense. To tell the truth I am looking forward to see how you function with different kinds of battle and what it can do to a monster."

"I won't disappoint you."

000000

End chapter 21

Stuff happened! yeah!


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

"So we leave at what time tomorrow?" Harry asked, pouring himself some water and moving to sit across from Zack on the couch.

"Not until 10:00 a.m., thank god."

"Just because we're leaving then doesn't mean I'm letting you sleep in, you know." Harry grinned when Zack pouted at him, trying to paw at his feet. He tucked them under himself and started to drink his water, fending off Zack's attacks easily. He was more than used to Zack's strange moods by now.

"And do we know who the infantry guys are yet?"

"Nah, we're just going to select two new guys at random so they can get a feel of what its like on a mission." Zack shrugged, picking up the remote and flicking the TV on. He switched to some news station and began snorting when they started talking about how wonderful Shin-Ra's latest solution to world hunger was.

"You know, if they made better transport systems to spread around the food, we wouldn't have world hunger." Harry noted, chewing absently on his knuckles. "And it would make traveling so much easier."

"That's a good idea."

"And maybe all the international mixing like that would create world peace because everybody would know everybody else..." Harry trailed off, thinking about how nice it would be if everybody could just get along and quit pushing their own agendas and ideas of right and wrong onto everybody else.

Zack smiled fondly at him, wanting to pull him close but resisting so he wouldn't make the brunette feel smothered. Angeal had teased him mercilessly about how possessive he was, and so he was trying to tone it down so he wouldn't be too annoying to Harry. Harry seemed more like a lone wolf sometimes, no matter how comfortable he was in social situations, and he liked that side of his fiancé.

"What are you smiling at?" Harry asked voice soft and eyes smiling.

"You."

"If you ever try to deny that you're a closet romantic, I will bring this up as evidence against you."

"Not if I blot it from your mind."

Harry looked over at him, dropping his raw knuckle. He needed to stop doing that- Lenny had noticed earlier and commented that whatever vicious animal he had should be de-clawed. "How are you going to do that?"

Zack started to move closer. "Why don't I show you instead?"

"Hm, I'm not sure…" Harry did his best to look coy, curling into the corner of the couch as far as he was able until there was no more room to move. "Should I feel threatened right now?"

Zack shook his head slowly, leaning in.

Someone knocked on the door, startling Zack badly enough that he toppled off the couch and onto the carpet. "God, who would be bothering me at my apartment at this time of night?" he grumbled, standing and dusting himself off.

Harry just smiled and shook his head, turning his focus to the TV and tried to make sense of why the woman in the screen would think that wearing a magenta jacket suited her. It made her skin look orange, and hair like…

Like something really gross, anyway.

"Yeah? What do you want?" Zack was asking whoever was at the door, although he sounded like he was trying very hard not to laugh. Wrinkling his forehead, Harry turned and saw a blonde teenager who looked shockingly like Draco standing there dripping wet. His complicated white suit was rumpled and almost completely see-through in some sections where there weren't enough layers.

"Oh shut up, Fair, and just let me in. I think it's obvious, even to someone as blind as you, that I want the use of your restroom." His accent was cultured, unlike Zack's slightly rough-edged country boy way of speaking, and Harry could tell almost immediately that he was either rich or trained to talk like a rich person.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Zack bowed and ushered the tetchy blonde inside, steering him by the shoulder to the bathroom.

The blonde noticed him on the couch and raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Harry wondered what that look was all about- it wasn't like he was naked or weird-looking.

Whatever; it wasn't like he cared what some rich kid thought of him, Draco look-a-like or not. Thinking of which, he wondered what the blonde was up to. How had he taken his death? Probably with a smile, knowing him; he'd probably laughed it up with Pansy, and maybe those two were married with bratty kids now. He'd always thought that they would end up together, in the karmic rules of the universe that dictated that assholes should marry for the sake of breeding more assholes.

Zack came back into the living room, grinning ear to ear in a way that screamed 'trouble', and sat back down.

"Who was that?" Harry asked casually, reaching up and tugging Zack's ear to drag his eyes away from the hypnotizing magenta jacket.

"Who? Oh. That's Rufus Shinra, the vice president and son of Shinra Sr."

Harry blinked. "Oh. Wow. I didn't know he…"

"Was capable of breeding a half-way decent looking human?"

He coughed to disguise his laughter, seeing Rufus come out of the bathroom in Zack's bathrobe with a towel wrapped around his head. He looked rather ridiculous.

"Whatever you were saying about my father and breeding had better have been insulting, or I might have to shoot you, Zack."

Rufus came over and sat on Zack's other side, unwrapping the towel and gently rubbing it over his head to absorb the moisture.

"Oh trust me, it was. And you still haven't told me how you got soaked in the first place."

"Two words: delinquent redhead."

Harry perked up. "He wouldn't happen to be a novice Turk, would he?"

Rufus gaped. "Oh my god, you _know _him?"

"Yeah. We met at the cadet camps and he hangs out at the SF offices when he's bored."

"Excellent." Rufus rubbed his hands together, looking like an evil cartoon villain. "What's his name?"

"Uh…maybe I shouldn't tell you that. I don't want him to get fired."

Rufus rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to bloody fire him; I want to give him some payback."

"Oh, in that case, his name is Reno Sinclair."

"Awesome." He almost sounded like a normal teenager then, despite the pure evil look on his pointy face. His hair was much drier now, and Harry got the feeling that it wasn't this mussed very often since Rufus was self-consciously smoothing it down.

Zack's eyes were riveted on the screen, where the magenta-wearing woman had been joined by another woman wearing bright yellow and orange stripes. Had they no self-respect?

Rufus ended up staying the night, passing out on the couch around 1 in the morning, the box of take-out slowly slipping from his hands. It would have made quite a mess if Harry hadn't noticed and plucked it out of his lax fingers. Zack and he then tiptoed quietly off to bed, and Harry woke up at 4 in the morning when he realized that he couldn't breathe.

Zack had rolled onto him, his weight crushing his rib cage. He hoped he wouldn't be bruised come morning from that.

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Crawling out of bed at 8 a.m., he took a shower by himself and started getting dressed in his new never-before-worn uniform. He was half-way through pulling on his pants when Rufus came into the bedroom, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Opening his eyes, he saw where he had wandered, colored, and whispered, "Sorry! I thought this was the bathroom."

"Its fine. The bathroom is the door next to this one."

"Thanks." Rufus left the room, but not before grinning at one side of the room being immaculately organized and the other strewn with random bits of trash and piles of disheveled Soldier uniforms.

"I know." Harry laughed softly, walking with him into the hall and moving past him to the kitchen where he started the coffee maker.

He would wake Zack up in an hour if he wasn't up by then. His stomach tingled with nervous butterflies. Today was his first mission! Although he was technically going to be observing, and possibly using some Materia if they ran into a monster, but that didn't take away from how excited he was.

And he would be with Zack, which was a plus.

Rufus came into the kitchen wearing his suit, which was still wrinkled but dry now, and Harry shot him a smile. "Do you want some toast?"

"That would be lovely, thank you."

"No problem. Sorry we don't have anything else around. Neither of us has had time to go to the store lately."

"It's fine. I'm not much of a breakfast person."

"Didn't have to tell me that, Rufus. You're as skinny as a staff." Zack commented, entering the kitchen in nothing but a pair of underwear.

Harry gave him a 'look'. "Aren't you a bit chilly, honey?"

"Um, no. should I be?" Zack looked so puzzled that Harry decided to let it go. It wasn't like Rufus was checking him out, so his jealousy was unfounded.

"We leave in 30 minutes, Zack. Did you need to shower?"

"Oh, shit, yes. Thanks for reminding me." Zack dashed off to the bathroom, missing the exasperated looks the two younger males exchanged. Sometimes Harry wondered how Zack had lived so long on his own without meeting with a horrible accident…such as forgetting to breathe and consequently dying in his sleep.

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End chapter 22


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

The aircraft hanger was chilly, and Harry was happy when they passed out of it and into the garages where the vans and trucks were kept. Sephiroth was already leaning against the side of their selected vehicle, their driver scuffing his feet and having a smoke beside him. Harry saw, once they were close enough, that the man was sneaking looks at the General from the corners of his eyes, an appreciative smile hovering on the corners of his lips.

"You're ten minutes late, Zack."

"And what else is new?" Zack laughed, not a hint of worry in his voice of body language.

Instead of reprimanding him, Sephiroth just rolled his eyes and climbed into the truck. Zack followed him, and Harry let his fiancé pull him up into the truck where he sat on the hard metal bench bolted to one side of the truck's wall. On the bench across from him were two helmeted men (shaped more like boys, though), and he could tell from the one of them was sitting that he was asleep.

Settling in for a boring ride, he watched Sephiroth bang his fist against the partition to the driver's seat to let him know that they could go, and with a lurch the truck started moving.

He hadn't been in an automobile of any kind in a long while, and he found that he had kind of missed it, although this felt very different from that first exhilarating incident in Mr. Weasley's flying car years ago.

Zack didn't try to make small talk, which was unexpected since he usually didn't like silences. But one look at Sephiroth explained it all. Harry might not know Sephiroth well, but it wasn't hard to see that he was the sort of man who didn't like to be annoyed.

He pulled a tactics report seemingly out of nowhere (his jacket and trousers were very well-tailored, so he really didn't have anyplace to keep it) and began reading it, crossing his ankles and relaxing his characteristic stiff posture just slightly, silver hair gracefully over one shoulder and completely without tangle or frizz of any kind. Harry liked to think that such things ran screaming from the man rather than try to ruin his hair.

One, then two, then three hours passed without incident and Harry spent them drifting in and out of sleep between bouts of staring out the window at first the Plate, then the green fields beyond the concrete bridge leading down outside of Midgar. He was not sorry to see the black city dwindle to a black blob on the horizon.

He started to wake up quite a bit more around eleven, and he found that Zack had amused himself by doodling in the margins of his sports magazine, and had drawn a long, almost an entire comic strip, of them making out. He could tell it was them from the exaggerated hair, his curly mess and Zack's spiked like a porcupine.

Zack licked his lips at him when he saw him looking, and Harry grinned and shook his head. He wasn't going to give into his pout- not when it meant kissing in a truck with his superior and two strangers possibly peeping at them.

Not seeing what else to do and wanting to take his mind off of Zack's antics, Harry pulled out his new mobile (courtesy of Lenny) and started texting Reno for the sake of being irritating. He knew the Turk was on his second mission, with Rude again funnily enough since they were going to be partnered or something because they 'complimented each other's strengths'. Reno had pretended to be upset about the partnership, but Harry knew the redhead enjoyed having an unbiased listener who was also willing to stand by him at work and away from it. He'd heard various amusing stories about their adventures at bars, and with some guy named Tseng who was quite a stiff-shirt but a very fun person when in his cups.

His phone vibrated when Reno replied to his 'what's up?'

Flipping it open and ignoring the way Zack leaned over his shoulder to read it, he read, 'nothing. Rude won't let me have cig'

He mailed back a sad face.

Zack snickered, and Harry elbowed him under the ribs. The soldiers stirred (the other one fell asleep an hour ago) and the smaller woke up for the first time.

"Harry?"

"Huh?" Harry hadn't been expecting that breathy whisper, and looked up to see the boy taking off his helmet to reveal…

Cloud?!

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Hermione smoothed a hand over her face, the paperwork strewn across her desk at the Ministry blurring when she poked the corners by accident. She had gotten a job in their Department of Mysteries, as an Unspeakable, and she had been promoted to head of the Research division a mere month after she started working as an intern. It had broken a world record for the youngest witch ever to be in that position, but she was also the most successful so far which kept any blood-purists silent for the time being.

She'd discovered how to sterilize Dementors, which meant that the population of soul-sucking monsters could be controlled for the first time since they'd become immune to the last method, a complex form of gruesome castration. This was a great relief to the Minister, because he'd been getting some very bad publicity after his inadequate controlling spells were revealed through an ex-secretary named Percy shortly after he was fired for unspecified reasons.

The reason for her brief moment of respite was a combination of fatigue and reminiscing. It had been almost a year since Harry's 'death', and she still caught herself calling out his name or jumping whenever she saw someone with a mop of disorderedly black curls on the street. She'd nearly given her assistant, Bram, a heart attack more than once since he was in possession of black curly hair and had pounced on him from behind on his first day, six months ago.

Viktor proposed last week, and she'd said yes, but was so nervous that it was a dream that she hadn't slept since. It was taking its toll, Pepper-Up Potions regardless.

Someone opened the door to her office, and she looked up, a helpful smile pulling at her tired muscles. Bram stood there, a pot of coffee in one hand. She decided she'd never seen anything so beautiful in her life, next to naked Viktor.

"Um, boss? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" Hermione whispered, eyes fixed on the gleaming pot. Following her eyes, Bram took a sigh of relief and hurriedly set the pot on her desk, next to her empty mug. "Is there anything I can get you besides this, miss?"

"Oh, no. thank you, Bram. You have no idea how much I appreciate this-"

"I can guess, miss." He left, closing the door quietly behind him. She creeped him out sometimes with her intense personality, but he had read someplace that people born geniuses weren't able to behave normally in social situations because they didn't have enough space in their heads for things like that. He personally believed that she did that on purpose to get people to stop begging her for autographs, since there was no Boy-Who-Lived to fawn over.

Inside her office, Hermione helped herself to the fluid of life and again turned her thoughts to Harry. She sometimes daydreamed that he'd been swept off into a perfect afterlife where he was surrounded by his family and friends, where he could finally relax and be happy. She sighed, and got back to work on her current project of alternate universes, though Merlin knew she wasn't making very much progress. The very idea that there could be other layers, other existences than those on her planet was more than slightly ludicrous to her.

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"What are you doing here?" Harry couldn't help smiling. He had really missed Cloud, since their schedules had kept them somewhat separated of late, and there wasn't anyone in the Special Forces who could match the blonde's combination of dry wit and strange naiveté.

"I'm on a mission…and I take it so are you." Cloud smiled bashfully, looking very shy when Sephiroth looked up from his report to see what was going on. Harry remembered the blonde's crush, and smirked.

Cloud glared, mouthing 'don't you dare'.

'Too late' he replied. "Zack, you remember Cloud, right?"

"Oh, yeah. It's nice to see you again." Zack smiled politely, nodding at him.

"Er, yeah. Likewise." Cloud smiled, still shooting Harry terrified looks.

"And this is, of course, General Sephiroth." Harry waved his hand in the general's direction, and he actually gave a half-smile to the infantryman.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance…Cloud."

"I…yeah. You too, sir." He crossed his legs awkwardly, and Harry grinned at him.

Cloud mouthed that he was going to kill him later.

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They stopped in some small dusty town close to the sea separating them from the continent the Nibel Mountains rose from, and Harry was enlisted with the task of finding them decent lodgings. Zack had given him an apologetic look, but Harry waved him off with a smile. He would have felt useless if he'd been left to sit beside the General and his fiancé while they pored over their evidence and charts of the reactor they would be examining.

A quick sweep of the tiny town revealed their only inn. It had a grand total of 6 and a half rooms (the half was apparently the lobby couch) and only two were booked when he got there, so he was able to procure 4.

Heading back to the truck, parked on the outskirts of the town and already under scruntinization from several old biddies dressed in tattered floral dresses and mealy sweaters, he knocked on the side to let them know he was there.

The door swung open, and Sephiroth raised his eyebrows at him.

"I got us four rooms at the hotel."

"Very good. You have directions, I trust?"

"Yep."

"Then feel free to proceed to the shotgun seat and impart them."

Harry grinned, picking up on the slight sarcastic tone in the General's voice; he mock-saluted. "Yes sir!"

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End chapter 23

Sorry I was gone for a while and sorry this is so short! I went out of town on Thursday night and only got back super late on Saturday.

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	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

Settling into his room, Harry wondered who he would be sharing with briefly before deciding it wasn't important and stripping down for a shower. He was half-way through lathering his hair after a brutal struggle with the water temperature, which didn't seem to have any middle ground between boiling and freezing, when he heard the door open and close. Straining his ears to try and recognize their footsteps, but wasn't able to distinguish them properly over the rush of the water.

Concentrating on cleaning the grime from his hair, he didn't hear the door to the bathroom slip open. He did, however, hear the shower curtain rustle and politely asked, without opening his eyes, for whoever it was to wait five more minutes until he was done in the shower.

"Aww, is that a rejection?"

Harry froze, and then opened his eyes to see Zack standing there in a towel, sticking out his lower lip. "Oh, sorry, honey. I didn't know who it was; I had my eyes closed." A bit of shampoo foam slid down his temple and narrowly missed his eye. He smiled sheepishly. "You can come in if you want. I'm almost done."

"Thanks." Zack tossed his towel to the side and Harry went back to rinsing his hair, moving to one side so half the spray could reach Zack. They didn't try to talk, both a little lethargic from the long car ride and neither wanting to end the day with soap suds in their mouths.

Once Harry finished, he lingered and smirked at Zack when the older man noticed his tricks. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want something?"

"I don't know; do you?" Harry laughed, the sound echoing faintly. Zack just looked at him a moment before snagging him around the waist and pulling him against himself.

"I think I do."

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Someone banged on the wall sometime after that, and they had to tone it down, which took most of the fun out of it.

Flopping onto 'his' side of the bed, Harry stared up at the smoke-stained ceiling until he fell asleep, the comforting weight of Zack's muscular body lulling him into sleep far faster than any kind of safety blanket.

The sounds of the local birds woke him in the morning at the lovely hour of six, and he rolled over to try and block out the sound. Apparently he had moved closer to the edge of the bed during the night and consequently tumbled out and onto the hard wooden floor.

He groaned, the sound awakening the still-snoring body of his fiancé.

"Ugh, Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you up? Its so early…"

"I noticed." Harry smirked to himself, looking up at the dust motes floating in the early morning sunshine.

"Well, come back to bed. Seph isn't going to make us leave this early."

"Are you sure about that? He seems like a closet sadist to me." Harry mused, running a hand through his hair and struggling to his feet. He eyed the bed, contemplating the flannel sheets and his boyfriend's warm body and gave in. He crawled back under the covers, turning so he could feel Zack's breath on his face.

"Seph's not a sadist- he just has a very high standard for his subordinates. It's nice, actually, since it gives me something to strive for, and I know I'm not the only one who likes having something more to aspire to become even after I've made it all the way to First Class."

"That's nice." Harry mumbled, feeling drowsy again. He wrapped his arms around Zack's neck, knowing that he liked it, and pressed their foreheads together. "Go back to sleep Zack. You can sell me your SOLDIER pitch later, when we're both awake."

"But-"

Harry gently kissed his cheek, expertly avoiding the morning breath. "Shush."

An hour later they woke to the sound of someone first knocking on their door and then banging on it when they both tried to convince themselves that they were hearing things so they could sleep more. Harry hadn't been partial to flannel sheets before, but he was now. Would the staff notice if he stole them? Probably…but it would be worth it.

"Come on, you guys! Stop necking and get up! We want to be out of here within the hour."

Harry recognized Cloud's voice, grinned at Zack, and sprinted out of bed. Reaching the door, he flung it open and tackled Cloud to the carpeted floor of the hallway, laughing out loud when Cloud squawked.

"Hey! Harry, oh my god, what are you doing?!"

Harry smiled down at him, tickled his chin, and calmly replied, "Saying good morning of course!"

"Get off of me, dammit." Cloud huffed, trying to hide his smile when Harry started pinching his cheeks.

"Not until you say good morning."

Cloud looked at him, and saw that he really wasn't going anywhere until he gave into Harry's bizarre whims. "Fine. Good morning, Harry."

"Good morning, Cloud. Now if you'll excuse me, I left my naked fiancé by himself-"

"Gah, too much information!" Cloud squirmed out from under him and stumbled to his feet, freezing when he bumped into someone wearing a leather battle uniform. The General raised an eyebrow at him.

"Good morning to you too, soldier."

"I- yes sir!" He saluted hurriedly, and Harry muffled his laughter in his hands, smiling at the General after Cloud had quickly gone down the stairs to get away from them.

"Did you sleep alright, sir?"

"As well as I could with two excitable young people acting like newlyweds. Oh, and I don't think our host would appreciate you wandering about in your undergarments."

Harry gaped. Did Sephiroth just make a joke?

"I'll see you in the truck by eight, Potter." With a swish of his jacket that reminded Harry of Snape, he also descended the stairs. Harry craned his neck to look after him, but found his vision invaded by a pair of bare feet.

Following them upward he saw Zack standing there with his hands on his hips, wearing half his uniform. "Why didn't you wait for me? We could've tackled Spike together."

Harry shrugged apologetically. "If I'd waited any longer he would have gotten away."

"Oh, ok. Hey, we've gotta hurry up."

"Help me up?" Harry offered his hand, grinning at him and letting Zack use the momentum to kiss him quickly before they went back into their room.

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A day-long boat trip later, which Cloud spent vomiting and grudgingly allowing Harry to cuddle him, they arrived at a puny sea port and disembarked. They then waited until their truck was unloaded before setting off in the direction of the Nibel Mountains, which at that distance were visible as a hazy purple outline on the distant horizon.

Cloud sat beside Harry and kicked his feet, trying to avoid staring at the General lest he look like a creepy stalker. Harry was working on a crossword puzzle, and Zack tried to give him suggestions but most of his guesses were wrong. Harry explained to his embarrassed fiancé that it was probably because rural areas often gradually created their own version of their language, altering some definitions.

Zack had looked slightly appeased after that, and even smiled when Harry squeezed his hand.

At about 8 o'clock in the evening, an hour after they'd eaten their packed sandwiches purchased at the port town, their tires hit something and they got a flat. The truck lurched to a jerky stop, causing Cloud to clap a hand over his mouth to hold the vomit in. He had been barely fending off his motion sickness up until now, but that had really done him in. He wasn't too nauseous to appreciate the large warm hand of the General gently patting his shoulder.

"Do you need a potion?"

"N-no, sir. Thank you, sir."

"It's no problem. Zack, you come with me to investigate. There could be monsters out there. The rest of you stay in here, and only come out if I say you can." His coat swished as he climbed out the door, and Harry smiled at Zack.

"Have fun slaughtering poor defenseless beasts without me!"

Zack rolled his eyes but grinned all the same. "Have fun being a defenseless damsel."

"Why you-"

The door closed, leaving him in the dim interior of the truck with the soft patter of rain hitting the ceiling. When had it started raining, he wondered?

There were some growling noises outside the truck, and Cloud shivered, huddling closer to Harry. "Those sound like wolves." He whispered.

"Oh, like the Nibel Wolves? I don't think we're close enough for those massive things yet, hon." He smoothed Cloud's hair, smiling at the other soldier sitting across from him. "What do you think they are, Steve?"

Steve shrugged uncomfortably. "I grew up in Midgar, and we don't have very many monsters there, so I don't know any of the distinguishing sounds. Sorry."

There was a brief pause in the conversation as their driver opened the door, grabbed the spare tire and the accompanying tool bag, and closed the door again. Harry had caught a brief glimpse of a rain-streaked gray field.

"It's okay." For lack of anything better to do, Harry started humming absently.

The growling cut off with a weak whine, and something hit the side of the truck, making a squelching noise as it slid down the side.

Harry blocked the mental image with care. He didn't need any more mental baggage than he already had.

Sephiroth and Zack coolly re-entered the truck, and Harry noticed a long thin slice down Zack's cheek that was rapidly sealing on its own. Sephiroth signaled the driver to set off again.

They were only an hour away from Nibelheim.

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End chapter 24


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

Harry looked out the small window, seeing a small town in the distance. At first he thought that it just looked small because it was far away, but then he realized that it was a lot closer than he thought, the buildings small and made with hewn wood planks. There were a handful of two-story structures, and beyond them nestled between two flanks of the fir tree forest was a mansion, of all things.

"We're here." Sephiroth announced, and the truck came to a sudden stop outside the gates. Harry assumed the low wall surrounding Nibelheim was to keep the monsters out, but it looked awfully unfriendly nevertheless. A few unfriendly-looking villagers passed by them, but overall the town seemed almost deserted. Harry found it hard to imagine Cloud, with his brilliantly-colored hair and eyes could have come from such a cold and dreary place.

Nudging Steve awake, Harry waited for the two soldiers to leave the truck before climbing out himself, followed by Zack and the General. He noticed Cloud pulled his helmet over his head the second his feet touched the ground, and raised his eyebrows.

He would have to ask him some questions later about that.

A teenaged girl wearing a skimpy cowgirl outfit of some variety walked towards them out of what looked like a pharmacist's, and stopped a couple of feet away, putting her hands on her hips.

"You're the guys from SOLDIER?" She asked, her voice sounding apathetic and dull, like she was only talking to them because she had to.

"Yep!" Zack replied cheerfully, taking no notice of her tone. "Are you the welcoming committee or something?"

"Or something. Are you the only guys they sent?"

"Yeah, we're an elite group. But don't worry; we'll have your monster problem cleared up in no time!"

The girl didn't blink, and Zack shifted slightly. "So, who are you?"

"I'm Tifa Lockhart."

Harry stifled a snicker, and everyone gave him a funny look. He coughed loudly, beating his chest with his fist. "Sorry. Something in my throat."

Cloud's shoulders were shaking, and Harry smiled privately, even though he knew Cloud didn't know the full extent of the joke. He was now going to think about his ex-teacher whenever he saw Tifa.

"So do you guys need a guide to the Reactor?"

"Yes, we do." Sephiroth spoke for the first time, stepping forward. "Where can we find one? We're willing to pay."

He looked kind of zoned out, and kept snapping his head from side to side like he had heard something. Harry wrinkled his forehead, wondering if the General was alright. He'd been looking tenser and tenser the closer they came, and he was almost worried. Almost, because Sephiroth was more than capable of watching his own back and didn't need anybody to fuss over him.

"You're in luck!" Tifa seemed to perk up now that the General had acknowledged her existence. "I'm the best guide we have, and I know the mountains like the back of my hand."

Cloud drew in a sharp breath beside him, and Harry sneakily squeezed his hand, the move hidden by their baggy military trousers. He didn't understand what Cloud's reaction meant, but it wasn't his business.

"Very good. We will meet you here tomorrow morning at seven; which way is the inn?"

"That way. It's the only one with lights, so you can't miss it." Tifa pointed left from where they were standing, and Sephiroth nodded his thanks, clearly not in the mood to talk. He strode off in the direction she'd indicated, and everyone, the driver included, followed, trotting to keep up.

The inn turned out to be one of the few two-story buildings, and was obviously older, perhaps built in a time when there were more people living in rural areas before Shin-Ra popularized the city life and mass migration to the Midgar Lower Plate began.

Their rooms were simple, and each contained two plaid-covered double beds. Harry sighed. No messing around tonight, then.

Cloud and Steve elected to share a bed, with Harry and Zack also together in the same room as the soldiers while Sephiroth and the driver would each have their own beds in the room next to theirs. Zack was originally supposed to be in the place of the driver, but he had gotten angry at the very idea of someone else sleeping with his fiancé that Sephiroth had told him to just do whatever he wanted.

Which how Harry ended up getting tackled and held down to the bed by Zack, who was talking a mile a minute about how Harry needed to be extra-careful since this was his first mission and fighting monsters was a big deal.

Harry tuned him out after he realized that most of the 'advice' Zack was giving him was ridiculous and he was repeating it.

Meanwhile, Cloud had removed his helmet and sat listlessly reading a tactics textbook, his chin resting on his palm since it kept drooping. Steve had left to go 'explore', which was code for taking advantage of the lowered legal drinking age, and Zack had finally decided to stop panicking and take a shower.

"Hey, Cloud?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you put your helmet on when we arrived?" Cloud stiffened. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to; I'd just wondered."

Cloud sighed, and closed his tactics book. "I…when I left here, I promised that when I came back I would be a SOLDIER. And since I'm not, I hid." He shrugged, trying to be cool about it even though Harry could see the tears in his eyes. "I know that hiding makes me a coward, but I couldn't face the people here as a failure; not when I promised to make something of myself."

Harry rolled off the bed and sat down next to Cloud, soundlessly running his hands through the blonde's hair. Cloud's breath hitched.

"We passed my mother's house on the way here. I don't know if I can rightly see her, like this."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

He shook his head hesitantly. "You should stay here with Zack."

"He wouldn't mind if I went with you. And I think your mother would be really hurt if she found out you had been here and didn't bother to even visit her. Besides, who knows when you'll be on leave to come back here and see her? It could be years."

Cloud chewed his lip. "Zack really won't mind?"

"Won't mind what?" Zack suddenly asked, exiting the bathroom in his pajamas. They had red Chocobos on them and Harry grinned. He had bought those for his boyfriend as a joke, never expecting that Zack would ever like them, much less wear them.

Cloud snickered when he saw them, and Zack stuck his tongue out. "I can wear weird pjs if I want to, mister."

"I…can see that."

"So what was that about me not minding something? You two weren't discussing a threesome, were you? Because, no offense Cloud, but I'm not really into blondes-"

"Zack!" Harry broke in, trying to act scandalized but breaking down into laughter in spite of himself. Cloud's face was screwed up trying to hold it in, but he started giggling too.

"So I take it you aren't offended? And goddammit, stop laughing at me!"

"Alright, alright…Cloud was going to go visit his mom, and I was going to go with him to meet her if that was okay with you. I know your instructions said not to leave you alone because you'd go crazy but-"

"Hey!"

"Can i?"

"Yeah, go for it. It's not like I don't have paperwork that you being here would distract me from." Zack casually buffed his nails, bowing his head to hide the smirk spreading across his lips. Pissing Harry off was fun.

"Oh, that was uncalled for!" Harry smacked his arm, folding his own once he had. "Cloud and I will have a lovely time with his mum without you, and you can try to convince your paperwork to pet your hair for you."

He pulled his jacket on, waiting for Cloud to finish lacing up his boots before kissing Zack's cheek. "Behave yourself while I'm gone. And try not to do anything too mean to Steve when he comes back drunk."

"I won't."

Laughing, they left the hotel room and headed down the stairs. Cloud seemed more subdued now that they were out in the town common, but he needn't have feared since almost everybody was inside at this hour, already sleeping or preparing to sleep.

"Are you sure your mum will be awake?"

Cloud nodded. "She's always been a night owl. She considered three to be an acceptable bed time, when I was growing up. I always dropped off by around midnight, though."

Harry nodded, finding it easy to imagine Cloud as a fragile child with raccoon eyes.

They paused outside the door of one of the few small houses with its lights still on. Cloud stepped onto the front step, hand raised to knock, and paused. Harry gently touched his shoulder, saying quietly, "Cloud, you don't have to see her if you don't want to."

"But I don't know when I'll see her again." Cloud mumbled, knocking on the door.

A few minutes a pleasant-faced woman with dish-water blonde hair a far cry from Cloud's sunshine-colored locks opened the door and gasped.

"Cloud? Oh my god, honey!" and without further ado Cloud was grabbed and almost strangled by the woman, who was quite big-boned and looked tough enough to survive a rock-slide with ease.

"Oh, and you brought a friend! Hello there, young man, I'm Darla Strife!"

She grabbed his hand before he could offer it and hugged him as well. Her bosoms were suffocating, but she smelled like fresh dough and crushed pine so he didn't mind so much. Her hugs were similar to Mrs. Weasley's, warm and filled with undiluted motherly affection.

When she pulled him back to get a look at him, she smiled broader. "And you are?"

"Harry Potter, ma'am. I'm a friend of Cloud's."

"So I see. Why don't you two come inside- I've just been about to make some hot chocolate and don't mind making a little extra."

Cloud perked up at the word 'chocolate', and his mother laughter. It was loud and seemed to boom warmth through Harry's very soul. He hadn't known people like her actually existed. Cloud must take after his dad.

His suspicions were proved correct when they walked through the house to the kitchen and he passed a family portrait of Darla, a much younger Cloud (maybe six at the oldest) and a slender man with small delicate bones dwarfed even further by Darla's arm wrapped around his waist. Despite the odd-couple look, they looked genuinely happy together.

Harry wondered how he had died.

00000000

End chapter 25

Yes, I know I am delaying the inevitable. Bear with me.

.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: btw, in case anybody wanted to know, the inspiration for Darla is my British Uncle Bob (that is his real name, honest), who is everything and more that Darla is.

CHAPTER 26

It was only after insisting, for an entire half hour straight, that they had to get up early to go into the mountains that they managed to peel themselves away from Darla. It was two-thirty in the morning, and Harry could already feel the sleep-deprivation migraine forming behind his eyeballs and gathering like storm clouds along his temples.

He couldn't be upset at Darla for keeping them up, though. Her cheerful disposition and general strength of character hadn't faded as the evening wore on, and the chocolate she made was above and beyond anything Honeydukes ever made.

It must have been all the love she put into it. He grinned at how cheesy that sounded in his head, and on an impulse hugged Cloud. The blonde squeaked, surprised, but returned it.

"I take it you had a nice time?"

"Yeah. Your mom is awesome."

"Thanks. I worked hard on her-"

"Quiet, you."

He tiptoed across the dark hotel room, toed off his boots, and hurriedly undressed before cautiously crawling into bed with Zack. A thick arm immediately wrapped around his middle, and Zack whispered, "You were gone a really long time, babe."

Harry gaped in the dark. "Did you wait up for me?"

He could feel the dark man's nod against his shoulder, which Zack was nuzzling like a stuffed animal. "I couldn't just go to sleep, knowing you were out there."

Harry smiled, and stroked Zack's hands. "I love you too. Now go to sleep- you might have enhanced energy, but I know I sure as hell don't."

0000000

As expected, waking up early the next morning was hell, but Steve was hung-over pretty bad, so Harry didn't have the heart to complain about his own problems.

Tifa met them where specified, and the trek into the mountains was silent after she realized that none of them were in the mood to talk. It felt kind of awkward, and they only encountered a squirrel on their way to a bridge of some kind, which disappointed Harry. He was itching to use some Materia and get that feeling of relief and release, and felt he might do something drastic soon if they didn't come across something decent.

The bridge proved to be a fragile pair of ropes spanned by thin planks of rotting wood. It looked like one of those stereotypical primitive bridges you saw in Muggle films about islands and surviving the wild. They usually snapped when the people were half-way across, and they were usually wearing shorts and t-shirts. He was wearing almost 50 pounds worth of equipment, and that was nothing compared to how much Zack was casually carrying or anyone else.

"I know it looks kind of old, but this bridge is perfectly sound!" Tifa's perky voice (it sounded a lot different today than it had yesterday) hit his ear drums, and Harry sighed. Now they really were doomed. "See, I'll go first."

Her booted foot tested the bridge comically, and then she began to confidently stride across, avoiding some patches of dodgy-looking wood.

Steve shrugged and followed, Sephiroth and Zack following him leaving Harry and Cloud to take up the rear. Cloud was wearing his helmet so Harry couldn't see his expression, but he seemed hesitant to get on the bridge. Harry wondered if he knew something that he didn't, but concentrated on wrapping a gloved hand around Cloud's forearm and guiding him out onto the wood.

They passed the middle of the bridge without incident, and Tifa stepped out on the other side triumphantly, Steve coming to stand next to her. Sephiroth and Zack also made it across safely, and there were only five more steps ahead of them before they'd be safe too…

The bridge made a crackling sound and Harry froze, eyes snapping to the ropes holding it up. They were unraveled partially to start with, and now the fibers gave way and they felt the bridge jerk twice before it literally feel apart beneath their feet.

Giving a shout, Harry, still holding onto Cloud, made a grab for the Cliffside. His fingers grasped a thick tree root protruding from the underside of the rock platform.

The group above them seemed to leap into action, and before Harry could even begin to be afraid over how long the fabric of Cloud's sleeve would hold, Sephiroth's broad palm was grasping the scruff of his uniform and using to drag both him and Cloud back to safety.

He had barely caught his breath when Zack pulled him to his chest tightly, patting him down to make sure that he wasn't bruised. Over his boyfriend's shoulder, Harry could see Cloud trying not to blush when the General removed his helmet (Tifa gasped loudly) and began asking him a series of soft-spoken questions about whether or not he hurt in some places.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god…" the sound filtered into his ears vaguely, and he blinked when he realized it was coming out of Zack's mouth. Steve was standing awkwardly a few feet away, obviously trying to look concerned but finding it difficult since he barely knew Cloud and Harry.

"Baby, I'm okay. I'm fine." He patted Zack's back, hiding his smile. It felt nice to be protected like this, even though they were in the middle of a mission and this was completely unprofessional.

"Miss Lockhart, is there another way to get back other than the non-existent bridge?"

"Uh, well, there's this rock path but it takes almost three times as long-"

"Thank you." Sephiroth pulled out his map, glancing over it and then nodding to himself. The General had been even more distracted and distant than usual, and Harry was starting to feel a little scared for the man. Maybe he wasn't sleeping?

"Alright, if you both feel steady enough to move on….?"

Harry struggled out of Zack's arms, and helped Cloud stand. "We are now, sir."

Zack fluttered in the background, looking a little like he was about to pounce on Harry again, so he winked at him to demonstrate his full recovery.

"Then we march."

And just like that, they were back to marching through the mountains, through the depressing fir trees and evergreens, trees that were always the same: never experiencing the rebirth of spring.

Harry shivered, and shifted closer to Zack, who beamed with appreciation.

00000000

The Reactor, when they finally reached it, proved to be a small series of metal canisters with stairs leading up to them, and beyond them was a hulking mess of black metal built into the side of a mountain completely barren of anything more than a few barren pines with dry nettles practically falling off the trees.

Ascending the stairs behind Sephiroth, Harry scratched his knuckles and then rubbed his temples. There was a pressure on them, like something pounding on his Occlumency shields, trying to worm its way into his mind.

He was just being paranoid, of course.

The Reactor was cold inside, and everyone was instructed to wait in the 'lobby' area while the General and Zack went off to perform the exact examination of the facility to make sure that there were no leaks- or monsters feeding off of the tubes, which was the usual cause of bizarre monster deformations.

Tapping his foot a little, Harry sat down on the concrete bench between Tifa and Cloud, with Steve on the other side of Tifa obviously working up his courage to talk to her. Her attention seemed to be on Cloud, though, and she obviously didn't appreciate Harry sitting between them. He smiled at her innocently, choosing to ignore her animosity.

Cloud's shoulders were hunched, and he was twisting his hands together.

Harry sighed, and pulled a newspaper he'd bought at the Port out of his knapsack, opening it up and turning to the travel section. Zack had asked him to pick their honeymoon location, and he was desperately trying to familiarize himself with more locations on this planet. He still hadn't decided whether he wanted someplace sandy and hot, which would mean Zack in a bathing suit, or a cold place which would mean having a viable excuse for snuggling.

Such decisions! Such pressure!

0000000000

Two grueling hours later, Sephiroth swept back into the room with Zack hot on his heels, both of their uniforms streaked with bits of Mako and what looked like creature blood. Harry could smell it from where he was sitting, and he choked a little bit on the sulphur undertone to it.

"Goddammit, Sephiroth, wait!"

But Sephiroth did not wait, and Harry got this gut feeling that Sephiroth, on a primal level, couldn't stop.

"What happened?" Harry asked, once the metal door had slammed behind the silver-haired General. Zack didn't answer at once, seemingly frozen as he stared at the closed door. A gobbet of shredded flesh dripped off his shoulder, hitting the floor with a squelch, and then it…sprouted legs and attempted to crawl away. Zack stomped on it, moving his boot from side to side and turning it into nothing but a motionless red smear.

Harry threw up a little in his mouth.

"I…there were things, in tubes, back there in the Reactor. Some of the tubes were broken, and I think those were the monsters attacking the villages. We killed everything in the tubes and made sure they couldn't breed more. Nibelheim is…safe." His voice, throughout his narrative, never altered in tone, sounding like nothing more than a automaton or even a trained parrot.

"And the General?" It was Cloud who asked with anxiety all over his heart-shaped face and fidgeting hands.

"He's just a little upset right now. He'll be fine. We should go back, and Harry I want you to come with me on a quick circuit of the exterior for any monsters still lurking in the woods. We'll catch up with the rest of you."

Harry stood, tucking his newspaper back into his knapsack, smiling bravely at his fiancé. He had circled a mountain resort in Wutai, with supposedly 'world famous' fireplaces and 'rustic rooms with all the comfort of a modern city'.

They descended the stairs, and Harry strained his ears, grabbing a Materia when he heard something move in the underbrush to his left. A feline beast of some kind burst out, and he hit it with a bolt of bright yellow magic, vaguely in the shape of a conch shell. The impression of light floated a second longer in the air before dissipating, leaving the smell of smoke in the air. Harry was happy to find that the Materia had taken almost no effort to use and hadn't burned his hand like last time, but that might have had something to do with it being a Earth Materia, whatever that meant. Zack, sword half-unsheathed, looked very impressed.

"That was awesome!"

"Thanks!"

There were a few more monsters, and they alternated turns on taking them down, Harry wanting to see his boyfriend in real action rather than the kata practices he sometimes watched.

It was getting dark when they descended the mountain side, and they moved as fast as possible to the town, encountering two very large bright blue dragons on their way. Apparently they came out at night.

When they came close enough to see the village, Harry felt a shiver of foreboding slither down his spine, loop, and settle in a freezing coil in his stomach.

_Something was not right._

00000

Asking Cloud where Sephiroth was, since the driver, Shelley, claimed that he hadn't seen hide or hair of the man since they'd left that morning, they learned that he hadn't returned to the hotel at all.

Zack paced and bit his fingernails, seeming more worried than Harry had ever seen him.

"Zack, has he ever done anything like this before?" he asked timidly, laying a gentle hand on the brunette's shoulder. The warm skin comforted him, and he could feel Zack's veins pulsing with his increased heart beat.

"Once, in Wutai, so I've been told, and then another time a few years ago. I've seen it happen before, and I heard that it only happens when he's really upset. You see, he went off in one direction and I went in the other, and his direction went through the offices among other areas. Maybe he saw something in their records there? Either way, he really didn't appreciate seeing those things in the tubes." He turned to face Harry all of a sudden. "Harry, the things…well, some of them looked…"

"Looked?" Harry asked helplessly, eyes wide. He really didn't like how freaked out he felt, and not being able to find a real reason for being so on edge.

"Looked _human._"

Harry gaped. "Oh."

"Yeah…" Zack swallowed. "Sephiroth really didn't like seeing that, and he looked sick when we had to kill them. Some of them were awake."

"Oh, baby…" Harry pulled Zack's head down to his shoulder, wrapping his arms around him and swaying slightly. He was starting to feel seriously sick from the mental images he was getting, and he could only imagine how Sephiroth was feeling right now. From what Lenny had told him during one of their coffee breaks, which were more gossip discussions than anything more professional, that Sephiroth hated hospitals and scientists. No one knew why, though there were some rumors that the General had been raised in laboratories, which is why nobody knew where he was from and no one could write decent biographies on him. People simply did not know where he had come from, only that he was obviously superhuman.

00000000

End chapter 26

…don't kill me.

.


	27. Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

"I'm going to go look for him."

Harry looked up from where he had been dutifully making a list of their potential wedding guests. Zack stopped pacing and was obviously looking to him for approval.

"Um, are you sure he wants the company? He might want to be alone." Harry suggested, hiding his list when Zack tried to peek.

"Yeah, maybe, but I'd still like to know where he is."

"Can I come?" Cloud asked, perking up.

"Uh, sure. Yeah. I'll check the woods, and could you check the town since you know it better. Sound good?"

"Yep." Cloud buttoned his jacket, strapped his sword onto his back, and nodded to show he was ready.

"Let's mosey!"

Harry rolled his eyes, grinning at Steve, who bit his lip to keep from laughing until the door closed behind them. He then let it out, grabbing his pillow to muffle it. "M-mosey?"

"He's from Gongaga." Harry explained, as if that justified everything.

Half an hour passed quietly and Harry completed his list, folding it and carefully setting it besides the newspaper clipping. So far he had to ask Zack where he wanted to have the ceremony, since their apartment obviously wasn't appropriate, and pick the cake. He had made good progress on the wedding plans, although he still didn't want to wear a suit for the ceremony. Why formal clothes had to be so damned uncomfortable was beyond him.

Deciding that he was bored, he decided to go aid the search. Waving to Steve and getting snores in reply, he suited up and then left. Descending the stairs, he passed by the innkeeper's wife, who gave him a disgusted look. He rolled his eyes. She had picked up on him and Zack's relationship, and apparently wasn't okay with it even though it had nothing to do with her and they had behaved themselves in her institution.

Sighing, he stepped out into the chilly evening air, immediately feeling uncomfortable. There was something rising from the northern section of the town…it looked like…fire!

"Fire!" It was out of his mouth before he could stop it, and several villagers wandering around with grocery bags or with their children looked at him funny until they also saw the fire rapidly spreading towards them. "Do you have a fire brigade?" He asked the nearest person, and they numbly shook their head.

"We rarely get lightning out here, and it rains so much that the woods never catch fire. We use water heating systems…" He trailed off, staring hopelessly at the wall of flames.

"Okay then." Harry took calming breaths, trying to think of how he could help with this. "Tell everyone you can find to grab their valuables and get as many vehicles as possible so you can migrate."

"Good idea." And he was off, leaving Harry to sort his Materia and try to find a Water or Ice. Finally his fingers closed around a silvery orb, and his immediately began to feel numb with cold. Gritting his teeth against the sensation, he started casting as much as he was able. He put the flames out in the Eastern corner, but they were quickly rekindled by the fires surrounding it. The fire almost seemed to have a will of its own, ruthlessly burning everything in its path.

And then the screaming started and Harry knew that the feeling in his stomach had been right. Sprinting towards the sounds, he choked when he saw bloodied heaps, which had no doubt once been people. They hadn't been burned: they had been sliced and diced like so much raw meat.

Spotting a larger person amongst the smaller people, he picked his way through the carnage to them, gasping when he saw who it was. Although there were three neat slices dividing the pieces of her head, Darla's face was still recognizable.

He sobbed before he even realized he was crying.

"Harry?!" He heard Cloud's voice, and panicked. Cloud was so fragile emotionally, he didn't think that the poor kid could possibly handle seeing his own mother's dead body-

It was too late. Cloud choked, skidded to his knees, and began carefully touching her face and neck, where the worst of the damage was, making low moaning sounds.

"No, mom…no…."

"Cloud, let's take her body and get out of here-"

"No! Not until I kill whoever did this!"

"Cloud, don't do something that you're going to regret."

"I'm not going to fucking regret it!"

Harry backed off, hands held up. "I'm not going to help or hinder you, Cloud. Just keep in mind that you're not thinking straight right now and-"

"Those slash marks…they were made with a thin katana."

"Uh…" Harry swallowed his excess saliva and looked closer at the bodies surrounded them. It was true. The precision of the cuts seemed familiar, and then Harry's eyes widened. There were no sword-wielding people here besides their party, and Steve couldn't have done this because his blade was like Cloud's and his own, almost twice as thick as the razor-thin one used here.

Only one person could have done this. But why would Sephiroth kill these people? They hadn't done anything to him!

And before he could grab Cloud to prevent him from getting himself killed trying to attack the General, Sephiroth himself came striding out of the walls of flames surrounding them.

"Heh, you traitors shall burn like the fools you are, and then she shall be appeased."

Harry blinked. That wasn't what he was expecting, and there was the disturbing fact that Sephiroth's pupils had almost disappeared, leaving nothing but two wafer-thin slits of black not unlike those of a lizard.

Sephiroth was about to leave, so Harry spoke up since Cloud seemed frozen in place, tears streaking down his cheeks. "She?"

"Yes." Sephiroth's voice was hollow, and inhuman. "Jenova shall punish all who have betrayed her."

"I…see."

Sephiroth swept out of view, and Harry could have sworn he saw a large black wing protruding from the man's back, like a one-winged angel. Cloud shivered from his place, still holding his mother's hand tightly.

"Well, he's cracked." Harry noted blandly, not quite knowing what to do about this. He could try to stop the flames again, but that would just exhaust him. If anyone had made it out of here alive, they would be long gone by now and his presence might be taken the wrong way. Not to mention that abandoning the mission and his commanders would make him a deserter. He found himself suddenly craving Zack and wanting to reassure himself that the older man was fine, even though it would take a force from hell to keep his boyfriend down. Zack was probably charging around somewhere carrying small children to safety like the hero he was. A faint smile pulled at his lips despite all the misery surrounding him, the thought of his beloved showing him the silver lining. Cloud had not been harmed.

"Come on, Cloud. Do you want to take her with or leave her to the hands of Gaia?"

"I'm following him."

"What? No, Cloud, you are not going to-"

But it was too late. With a fierce, stony expression on his face, Cloud stood, gave Harry one last look, and left in the same direction as Sephiroth, leaving Harry to stare after him sadly. He couldn't stop Cloud when he looked like that, even if it was suicide. There were some things that should be up to an individual, and on a level, Harry was happy that Cloud was making a decision for himself.

The heat from the flames was becoming a bit much, so he casts an Ice spell that not only extinguished all the flames in a fifty-meter radius but also froze the ground rock solid. Why the hell couldn't he have put that much power into it the first time?

"Harry!" He was hoping it was Zack, but it was Steve, and he was looking more than a little charred around the edges. "Harry, thank god I've found you! Your lover boy, the General, and Cloud are down at the Reactor. None of them looked so good when I saw them heading that way-"

"Zack is at the Reactor?"

"Uh-huh." Steve nodded, blowing on a piece of his hair that was quietly smoking. He seemed to notice the icy surrounding them, and stared at it. "Dude, were you the one who froze this whole place?" He indicated with a wide gesture of his hands the winter wonderland around them.

Harry nodded grimly, already reaching for his Materia once again. The least he could do now was put out the rest of the town and then go to the Reactor. Maybe by the time he was done Zack would have slapped some sense back into the General.

0000000

It was hard when he came to the Strife residence and found nothing but a smoking foundation, but he coated it with ice anyway. Why did every good thing in his life have to come to an end?

Since his work was finished, and Steve had vehemently turned down his offer to come with him to the Reactor, electing to stay here and try to contact Shin-Ra to let them know what had happened, to the best of his ability.

And so it was that, alone and frozen to the bone from all the casting he'd done, Harry started down into the mountains, holding his Muggle torch high to help him find his way through the pitch-black mountains. He had forgotten how dark it got in the middle of nowhere, far from man-made lights and the glow of raw Materia.

He had a few scares when his feet tripped over loose rocks, threatening to catapult him into darkness that not even his torch could light up, but shockingly enough he made it to the Reactor without meeting a single monster.

Standing outside the sparsely lit complex, he took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to appreciate the sweet mountain air. He had hoped it would make his heartbeat slow down a little, but it continued to throb in his eardrums. However, it did not block out the faint sound of metal hitting metal that filtered out to him.

Trust Shin-Ra to not bother to provide sound-proofing.

Ascending the steps carefully, he eased the door open, pleased to find the lobby without any signs of violence other than the concrete bench shattered into a million fragments.

Side-stepping the mess discretely, Harry moved through the building, following the doors torn half off their hinges. When he began to slash marks on the wall, and then a few drops of blood here and there he started to run.

He was now in the bowels of the Reactor, the floor beneath his feet a thin metal bridge with a grid-pattern on it. There were sections of the railing missing, and he heard a shout break the stillness.

Really scared now, he broke into a full-tilt run through the series of doors, finally coming to an flimsy metal staircase with Tifa Lockhart of all people sprawled on it, practically cut in half. Unbelievably, she was still gasping for breath so he dug through his pouch for the Heal he had been given for emergencies. He had never used it before so he was quite nervous, and his hand shook as he began to concentrate on the gash dividing her organs to seal.

Green light shot out of the Materia like a geyser, and not only the gash sealed in a matter of seconds but also the cloud-like bruises blooming on her limbs disappeared. Her eyes, a shade of burgundy he had never seen before on a human, fluttered open and she stared up at him without seeing him before they focused.

"I'm healed!"

"You're welcome." He smiled wanly when she blushed. "And don't move. Lie still for at least ten minutes so you don't reverse my spell work, okay?"

"But my father is dead-"

"And you should let the dead lie for a mere ten minutes."

"The town is on fire! How am I to bury him if I can't distinguish his ashes from those of a piece of furniture?"

"Hey, calm down. I froze the town, and it'll stay solid for a while yet. Most of the bodies I saw were intact, so there's a good chance you won't have any trouble, miss."

She sighed, eyes damp. "Do I really have to lay here?"

"Yep, and you get to do it alone too. I've got a boyfriend to check on."

"Okay. And thanks for healing me."

"No problem."

He was surprised at how collected she was at first, but then he realized she was probably in pre-shock and seemed like a fairly strong person, both physically and mentally.

Heading onto the very platform that ringed the Mako outlets trained downwards into a pit, he stared at the destruction around him. There were pieces missing from the structure everywhere, and Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen. On the bridge spanning the centre of the pit was a crouching figure and since they were blonde, he assumed it was Cloud.

Where was Zack?

Looking around, feeling frantic, he saw his boyfriend's crumpled body against the wall behind him.

"Zack!"

But Zack didn't stir. Running over to him, tripping over his own feet in his haste, he tried to breathe as he cupped Zack's bruised face gently in his hands. Digging out his Cure, he cast it over and over again on him, watching the blood and wounds disappear far slower than they had in Tifa's case. When every injury was healed, he held his breath and waited. He could hear, distantly, the soft rustle of Cloud's body as the blonde made his way over to them, but he hadn't enough attention to give the younger boy.

Zack was barely breathing, and if it weren't for the fluttery heart beat he could feel between his fingers as they grasped Zack's wrist, he would have taken him for dead. Was he in a coma? He didn't know, and pulled the brunette's head to his chest, beginning to rock them as he did his best not to start crying for real. It was too late, though, and he sobbed loudly. Cloud laid his head against Harry's shoulder, breathing harsh and ragged.

Harry wordlessly cast a powerful Heal on him, horrified to see that the blood staining the blonde's chest stopped spreading once he did. How could Sephiroth have hurt Cloud so badly? How could he have been possessed?

"Where is Sephiroth?"

Cloud looked down. "D-dead. I pushed him into the pit after stabbing him straight through the vitals with Zack's sword."

"Oh god."

"I know." Cloud whispered, and let himself be pulled into the hug even though he was sharing it with a barely-living Zack. "We're going to be discharged or executed, aren't we?"

Harry kissed the top of his head, the spikes tickling his nose. "I don't know…" His voice died, and he felt faint. Slowly his vision turned black, and before he knew what was happening he felt the tell-tale weakness of magical exhaustion. It hadn't happened to him since he had been learning to produce a Patronus and he'd forgotten to be careful today.

With a sigh he slipped into unconsciousness, leaving Cloud to quietly panic alone.

0000000

End chapter 27

(sobs) I was right; I _did _cry!

This is not the end, people. There are still a few more chapters, and believe it or not, it does have a happy ending. Just bear with the bullshit for a little while longer, okay?


	28. Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Harry came to with a start, blinking into harsh white light. Clinical light, and his nose ached from the scent of antiseptics and rubbing alcohol. Where was he? Was he in a hospital?

Turning his head away from the light, he let his eyes adjust and nearly screamed. Strapped to a metal table beside him was Cloud, and a man in a white coat was slowly injecting him with something. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out, and his tongue was so dry it practically glued itself to the roof of his mouth. Apparently the man had heard him stir, though, and placed his syringe on a tray before turning to examine him like he was something funny preserved in a jar of gelatin.

"So specimen P has decided to grace me with his presence?"

Harry blinked. The man's voice was high-pitched, which was unexpected, and slightly nasally as if he had a sinus condition. Then again, anyone with hair that greasy had to have been inhaling something funny. He was faintly reminded of Snape, but not to the point of feeling a little more familiar with this strange scientist.

"I have dosed you with a sedative and a muscle relaxant, which is why you're having a little trouble speaking right now." He laughed, sniveling afterwards and wiping his nose with a dirty handkerchief. Harry's lips pulled vainly, trying to form an unintentional sneer.

"According to your health files, specimen P, you have very….interesting reactions to anything connected to Mako. I assume you were the one who froze Nibelheim? You were found with Ice Materia on you, so I'm taking that as a yes."

He scribbled something on his notepad, grinning strangely at Harry. "We're going to have lots of fun together."

The time passed slowly, a haze of pain seeming to take hold of Father Time and slow the passage to a crawl. He was unconscious most of the time, only aware of certain parts of himself being painfully examined and prodded in ways never meant to exist in the natural realm. The Mako injections were the worst by far, though, since they made him feel like he was bursting at the seams with nameless energy, and if he didn't release it soon his very bones were going to melt from the intensity of it.

He had no idea how much time had passed when his eyes fluttered open, and he gained consciousness for the first time in a long while. The white fluorescent light directly above his head burned into his irises, but he bore it until the pain faded and he was able to flick his eyes away from it.

His mouth worked silently when he saw who was strapped beside him to his own personal table of torture. Zack had new scars running down his arms and a white bandage wrapped tightly around his chest, but he was still more than recognizable. His hair had grown, and spread over the table as crazily as it had used to his pillow when they slept together.

Harry had hoped and prayed to any gods whose names he could remember that Zack had not also been brought to this living hell as well, but it seemed he was wrong. Zack moaned in his sleep, and then his eyes slowly opened.

"Ugh…"

"Z-Zack?" Harry hadn't heard the sound of his own voice in a long time, and almost screeched when he heard how deep it had gotten.

"Harry?"

Zack's head weakly moved to the side, and Harry flinched when he saw the complex patchwork of scars cut into his very face, still fresh and oozing blood.

"What are you doing here, sweetheart? This is no place for angels…only miserable humans." He rasped, eyes looking strange. His pupils were practically invisible and Harry shuddered to think of what kind of pain Zack was in.

"I…oh Zack, he hurt you…"

"Heh, it's not so bad."

Harry's eyes teared up. It was wonderful to hear Zack chuckle a little, even if the laughter wasn't appropriate right now. "Yes, it is."

"You should see what _you _look like before you start saying that I've got it worse."

"What do you mean?" He felt nothing but a dull ache all over, like his body had been underwater for too long. He could barely twitch his fingers, and his head swam with hallucinations and ghost sensations of things he had not felt in years, like the wool of his House scarf, the tickling sensation of eating anything made by the Twins, and the warmth of Hermione's hugs.

"Harry, there are so many syringe tracks on you that you look like you've been bruised everywhere."

"What?" He whispered, craning his neck and peering down at his chest, seeing for the first time the endless residual bruises from injections. How much mako had he been given? Surely no one could contain that much and still live, since it was essentially poisonous.

"How do you feel?"

"Numb." He mumbled, feeling his windpipes closing. The numbness began to spread as soon as he acknowledged it and he began hyperventilating, trying to breathe.

Some machine hooked up to his arm started beeping, and then another and another joined the symphony of high-pitched electrical sound.

"Harry, baby, please, please calm down…" Zack's voice reached his ears distantly and he tried to breathe harder, the sounds of his gasps echoing in the small hospital room.

The door slammed open, hitting the wall and swinging back so quickly it would have decked the scientist with the greasy hair in the face if he wasn't already leaning over Harry and staring at him with fascination.

"Hojo, you bastard, don't just stand there! Do something!"

He smirked, not even dignifying Zack with a look. "This has nothing to do with you, subject Z."

"Yes it damn well does! Do something!"

Hojo, as the scientist was now known, picked up a syringe, loaded it with a tube filled with sickeningly green liquid, stabbed Harry's arm at random, and squeezed down the plunger.

"Goddammit, Hojo!"

"Be silent Fair or I will have you sedated."

"I will not be silent-"

Hojo pressed a button on the control panel between the examination tables, apparently an intercom, and said, "Miles, come in here please. I need you to remove subject Z and bring a sedative with you."

"Yes sir."

He released the button, and looked emotionlessly down at Harry, who was thrashing as much as he was able with the straps restraining him, both feet gripping the edge and straining as hard as they were able.

The machines beeped louder, and Hojo frowned. Apparently his solution 'if problem with mako, add more mako' wasn't working, for the first time ever recorded in his notebooks. He wrinkled his brows. Potter was the first specimen he'd ever had with such a bizarre reaction to Mako and he could not readily acquire a replacement if he died right now…but what was he do? Potter's DNA was different somehow from normal Human DNA and he didn't want to loose his source of it.

What was to be done?

While he was thinking, the beeping suddenly drew out into a long thin sound, and then shut off. His head snapped up and he gaped at the machine. The vitals chart showed each one shutting down rapidly, and he hurriedly grabbed a pair of new electronic shock devices, powering them up and placing them on Potter's torso. Pressing the correct button and flicking the switch, he pushed them down and felt the jolt of the power go through them and into Potter. The vitals chart paused and several organs began functioning briefly before ceasing once again.

Growling, he tried again, then again and again, each time less of the organs reacting until finally nothing happened for three times in a row.

Switching the machines off, he could now hear Fair quietly crying in the background and he sneered to himself. The doors opened and Miles came in with the sedative, nodding to Hojo before quickly injecting Fair and waiting a few moments until the SOLDIER's breathing evened out. Unstrapping him, he jumped when Hojo brushed past him to go out the door.

He shuddered once the other scientist was out of sight, sending a fearful glance at the paling corpse on the table beside Fair's. The body would be disposed of through the garbage disposal system, and then burned with the rest of the waste.

It was a sorry way to go, but that was the fact of it.

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The sky was red tonight as the sun set, and Hermione wondered if the myth about that meaning that blood had been shed copiously was right. Viktor was at a game tonight, and she was feeling a little lonely all by herself in their flat, alone with the dying sun as company. She sighed, picking up her knitting project. Lately she had been far more relaxed since she had taken it up, the simple task of turning the balls and rolls of yarn into something else absorbing her usual nervous energy and both taking her mind off her worries and giving her time to daydream at the same time. She poked her wrist by accident with the pointed end of one of her needles and winced but kept working.

She was making a sweater for a friend at work, Francesca; to make her feel more welcome since she was new to the researching department and had already proved herself invaluable as an assistant.

The search for alternate planes and universes was still going on, every time the program was in danger of being cancelled, which was frequently, some new shred of evidence would show up and the search would be on. She had travelled to Stone Hedge, some very weird caves in Africa, Egypt in particular, but still no concrete knowledge about the worlds themselves had been uncovered. All she knew was that she had been wrong: there were other places out there.

Now all she needed to know was were they occupied.

Her fireplace flared to life and she set down her project, coming over to kneel on the hearth. It was a man she'd never seen before, and he was wearing undecorated black robes.

"Um, may I help you?"

"You are Hermione Granger?"

"Yes, I am. What's this about?"

"I believe you were a close acquaintance of Harry Potter, so the Department of Mysteries is kindly allowing you to know that his body has reappeared."

Her mouth fell open.

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End chapter 28

Harry's dead! …and may he rest in peace.


	29. Chapter 29

EPILOGUE

Hermione swept into the Department of Mysteries, knitting needles clinking together in her handbag and causing several Unspeakables to look up from their work stations when she walked past. Her guide, a middle-aged man with very forgettable features wearing a non-descript Muggle suit, had a very fast way of moving that forced her to practically trot to keep up, and the effect wasn't very dignified.

However, she was far too confused right now to be embarrassed about what sort of impression she was leaving. How could Harry's body be back? She had thought that it had been stolen by some fanatic, and therefore long decomposed or sold in the underworld by now.

The man, who still hadn't even given her a codename to call him by, stopped in front of a unmarked door made of dark stained wood and knocked on it with his bony knuckles. It swung open silently and he ushered her in first like a gentleman, which improved her opinion of him.

On a wood table in the center of the small room, which was little more than a rectangular space with a row of cabinets against one of the walls and a sink against the other with a single bright light above their heads, was Harry. Or rather, what had been Harry when he was still alive. She blinked. His hair had grown considerably, and fell over the edge of the table in a near-waterfall of thick black curls. It looked healthy and well cared for, and from what the light was revealing, he had gained some significant muscle mass.

And then there were the puncture marks, and a series of medical-looking scars over his torso, the backs of his calves, and down his hips. She couldn't imagine why someone would want to cut up a dead body, unless they wanted his organs for potions ingredients or something. Sending the Unspeakable a questioning look, she stretched her hand over to hover over Harry's skin without touching him. He nodded and she began prodding his bruised torso, feeling for any missing bits. There weren't any.

"We haven't found a reason for the scars either, Miss Granger."

"None at all?" She asked, leaning in and getting a closer look at one of the puncture marks.

"Other than perhaps sadistic curiosity, no."

"Do you have any idea what he's been injected with?" She gently touched one of the pockmarks with the tip of a finger, frowning.

"We've submitted a blood sample for examination, and we are still waiting for the results."

"Where did his body turn up?" She tilted her head, examining a tattoo on his hand done in black ink. It was the number 54, whatever that meant.

"In the exact same bed in the morgue it was before it disappeared, in the same position it had been before. A full examination showed that he had been alive but minutes before, and the cause of death was full-body muscle failure, which isn't a condition we commonly find around here. We believe the cause might have something to do with whatever was in his blood."

"I…see." She gazed silently down at his face, not yet altered by a mortician to display the false mask of serenity and happiness made for the benefit of their loved ones. It was contorted in agony, the teeth partially bared on one side where his lips were parted. His nostrils were flared and his eyes half-open.

She shivered. She could have sworn he was watching her, even though she knew that he was dead. "How could he have died of muscle failure if he was dead before from severe head trauma and a broken neck?"

The Unspeakable shrugged helplessly. "We're called the Department of Mysteries for a reason, miss."

Sighing, she circled the table so she could peer at him from all angles. Despite all the obvious physical changes, he was still the kid she had grown up with and been through hell with.

"Oh, and the little air we did find in his lungs is made up from a series of gases that we don't have on earth, in case you wanted to know."

She froze, mind frantically dissecting that information and jamming it into various other sections of her mental research files. Could Harry have been transported to another dimension, the shock of which could have brought him back to life?

No, of course not! The very idea was ridiculous…but then, most of Harry's life had been ridiculous and she had paused to marvel that he had lived as long as he had without meeting a messy end. But how else could the air be explained? And the fact that he had obviously been living somewhere for the past year…

The door opened a fraction, and a woman stuck her head around the edge. "Sir? We have the first results of the blood test."

"Excellent. Have you got them on you or are we going to the laboratory?"

"Laboratory. They aren't authorized to be taken out; sorry."

"It's alright. Miss Granger, if you don't mind, its time for us to migrate to a different division for the blood results; if you still wish to see them, that is."

"Alright." She straightened her skirt, brushed Harry's hair from his forehead, also scarred along the temples, and followed them down the hall.

The laboratory turned out to be a plain room with a row of false windows displaying scenes of a classical pleasure garden, filled with intimidating equipment and long metal tables flanked by hard benches.

They followed the woman, whose hair was a half-blonde, half-gray rats nest gathered sloppily atop her head, to her station where a trio of vials containing swirling liquid were in a case.

What was in the vials couldn't possibly be blood, since it seemed to be more than fifty percent thick green liquid. The green seemed to be trying to crush or strangle the red streaks, moving rapidly inside its thin glass confines. Hermione swallowed. The liquid did not look benign to her, and she could somehow feel in her gut that it was not the sort of thing you wanted attacking you-

She shook her head. She'd been staring at it avidly, and the Unspeakable and examiner were both waving their hands in front of her eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry!"

"Its okay. I took so long getting the results because it kept distracting me. It almost reminds me of the Killing Curse, you know." She shrugged. "It's the color."

Hermione nodded. Now that she was paying more attention, she could see that the green was perfectly aligned to that of the Killing Curse, and it looked like how she supposed liquid magic would, if ever someone found a way to bottle it.

"Anyways, we don't have a name for it."

"Is it a new chemical compound?"

She shook her head, a bemused smile twisting her thin lips. "It doesn't exist. I've run every test we've got on it, and all the results come up empty. Its not a mixture of things, either. It's a whole chemical on its own."

"I…are you sure?"

"Yes. absolutely. Its fucking weird."

"Language, Priscilla." The Unspeakable murmured eyes on the vials.

"Yeah, whatever. What do you want me to do with them?" She gestured to the vials.

"Put them in storage. A private ceremony will be held for Mr. Potter, and those who knew him in life may attend but his body shall remain in our care as a mystery."

Hermione blinked. "But what about when it decays?"

"Our tests have revealed that whatever the green stuff is, its acting as a preservative. He has shown no signs of decay so far."

"Oh."

This was all very anti-climactic.

Two months later the program for locating Alternate Universes was dropped by the Minister because the funds were needed for the annual ball.

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Zack felt like he was floating slowly out of his body, and gritted his teeth to hold on a little longer for Cloud's sake. He could barely bear to see those wide blue eyes filled with tears, leaning over him and clasping his hand so tightly his bones were grinding together.

He hid his wince. Cloud didn't know his own strength…not anymore. Neither of them did. He could feel the blonde's soft skin paled to the color of paper from five years without sunlight against his fingertips and made an effort to stroke it like he would a child's.

"Cloud, I want you to take this." He summoned the last bit of his energy and lifted the handle of his Buster sword with his free hand up to where Cloud could grasp it. "Carry my sword and become my living legacy; live for both of us, as the proof that I existed no matter what lies and record erasing Shin-Ra may do."

"No, I'm not strong enough-"

"Then take my strength. All you need; I won't mind, Cloud. I'll be dead." He swallowed a thick clot of blood working its way up his throat, the raw metallic taste nauseating him. "It's what Harry would have wanted."

His grip on life slipped, and his pupils began to fade. Cloud made a choked sound, and he flexed his fingers, wanting to touch Cloud's face again to comfort him. The world seemed to be slowly fading away as his vision closed off, and then the ringing in his ears from the countless gunshots that had killed him died off, and the smell of blood also disappeared.

He felt numb, then his soul lifted as lightly as a feather from his shredded and abused body, floating on the wind far, far away. He fancied that he could look down and see Cloud's still-petite (he was never built to be tall) body bent over his carcass, and sighed. He hoped that the blonde had taken his advice on absorbing his strength. After all, one didn't take such things with them into the after life and it would be a shame for it to be wasted.

The floating sensation abruptly ceased and he found himself unceremoniously dumped on a grassy field. Looking around after getting his face out of the dirt, he noted that it seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions, a brilliantly blue sky forming a perfect dome in the sky. It was too perfect, and he vaguely wondered if these were the endless plains the dead were said to wander.

"Heya!"

He jumped, head turning so fast he was positive he would have had whiplash if he was still alive. Because apparently he was dead now.

Aerith waved cheerily. "It sure took you long enough. Heh, you probably hung on as long as you could to make me wait if it was possible to wait here."

"Aeris?"

"Yep! Welcome to the Lifestream!" She smiled, green eyes crinkling at the corners. He smiled hesitantly back. A lifetime of being taught that death was a "bad" thing was a little much to get over before he became happy about being dead. On the other hand, someone he very much wanted to see was here.

"Aeris, where is-"

Something swirled the air next to her suddenly and he stared, transfixed, as Harry dropped out of the sky and onto some kind of cushion made from the air. Without giving Aeris a glance, Harry crossed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Zack's neck, burying his face in his shoulder.

"You're finally here!"

Zack wasn't able to reply; too busy checking in every way he knew how to make sure Harry was really there. "I missed you so, but I'm glad you weren't kept in those labs any longer than you were."

"How did you survive as long as you did, Zack?"

He shrugged, grinning. "Luck of the idiots."

"Try hero instead. Don't think I didn't see how you bravely defended Cloud's honor." He smiled, kissing his forehead.

Zack blushed. "You saw that?"

"Uh-huh, and I have to say that I always knew you had the making of a hero of the old legends." Smiling, he allowed himself to be kissed. Aeris made mock-choking sounds in the background and Zack flashed her the 'loser' sign over Harry's shoulder.

While they were distracted, the air curved and bent once again to admit the General, the pupils of his eyes returned to normal. He raised his eyebrows at the display of physical affection going on, and looked at Aeris for explanation. She just shrugged.

"Officer Fair, you will unhand that operative this instant!"

Zack jumped away from Harry, body automatically snapping into salute. When he heard muffled laughter, he looked to the side to find Sephiroth biting his lip to keep it in with a near-hysterical Aeris leaning heavily on his arm. He grinned and waved when he saw that he had the brunette's attention.

"Where's my hello kiss?"

Zack puffed up his chest and turned his back on Sephiroth, trying to restrain himself from tackling him for a little longer. He had missed his friend terribly and hated that he had had to die the way he did. "Pfft, no kiss for you. I don't kiss jerks."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really." Harry broke in, moving closer to Zack and looking dangerously possessive.

A snicker escaped Sephiroth's clenched lips and Harry grinned. "I might let you have a more brotherly one though, if you're nice to me."

"I will worship the ground you walk on if you give me a mere moment to-"

"Hey, these are _my _lips we're talking about!" Zack butted in, hands on hips.

"No they aren't." Harry coolly corrected. "They're mine."

Zack blinked, thrown off.

"Oh, and I've been walking around telling anyone who hits on me that I'm married to you. I hope that's okay."

"That's more than okay!"

And before Aeris or Sephiroth could object, the physical affection began once again. Zack only paused long enough to hug both of them tightly and plant messy kisses on their cheeks whether they wanted them or not.

When, a vague amount of time later, Cloud appeared, he was tackled quite unwillingly by both of his ex-comrades and forced to 'fess up to knowing all along that Tifa wanted in his pants, something that he was then teased mercilessly for until Sephiroth intervened and dragged the jackals away by the scruffs of their necks.

It would seem that immaturity, like love, can survive even death. Zack had to make do with watching the stars and soaring comets with Harry rather than city lights, though, as they used to in the evening before going to bed.

And when Sephiroth finally did put the moves on Cloud, Zack was so shocked he didn't say anything for a full minute, which has been recorded as a miracle.

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End chapter 29

End Soaring Comets

So what did you guys think?


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